• Flags off reconstruction of Port Harcourt road
• Ex-Commissioner questions N30b contract
Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has decried the cessation of train/rail transportation in the South East for many years, noting that rail transportation used to be the most viable and cheapest means of transportation in the country.
During a courtesy visit to the governor, yesterday, at his Nvosi country home, Isiala Ngwa South Council, the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) District Manager, Modibbo Mohammed, intimated the governor on the on-going rehabilitation of the railway track from Port Harcourt.
Otti promised to support revamping of the service and requested the management of the Nigeria Railway Corporation to intimate him with the role the state government can play to facilitate the on-going rehabilitation of the rail line.
The governor pledged to address the request for security to safeguard railway installations in Abia territory, warning that any person caught engaging in vandalisation will be dealt with.
Also, Otti, yesterday, flagged off reconstruction of the dilapidated 6.8 kilometres Port Harcourt Road in the heart of Aba, the commercial hub of the state, with 18 months delivery time.
The contract is being handled by Julius Berger Construction Company at about N30 billion. The company had, few weeks after Otti took office, undertook inspection of the road, which was in a deplorable condition, despite that the immediate past state administration, led by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, awarded the contract and demolished hundreds of houses, but did not do much before leaving office.
However, former Commissioner for Trade and Investment in Abia State, John Okiyi Kalu, has said that something is financially fishy with the recent flag-off of the reconstruction of Port Harcourt Road, Aba, by Otti at the rate of N30 billion.
Okiyi-Kalu said that he was shocked when his attention was drawn to a statement released by the governor, through his spokesman, wherein he attacked him for revealing to the public that using N30 billion to complete the Port Harcourt Road project is suspicious.
The former Commissioner said that Okezie Ikpeazu’s administration, in which he served, awarded the same road in 2017 for N9 billion with 40 per cent of the work already done, including the establishment of drainages end to end, along with proper channels for stormwater.
He said that while he is unfazed by the tissue of lies and inaccuracies contained in the statement from Otti, it is instructive to note that during a radio programme he monitored in Umuahia, Otti confirmed that he is actually using N30 billion to do the job, and that there was neither a budgetary provision nor due process competitive bidding for the work.
