The Minister of Works, Engr. David Nweze Umahi has passed a vote of no confidence on the famous East-West road being constructed by SETRACO, a multi-national leading engineering company adding that the quality of work did not commensurate with the N144 billion naira allocated to it.
Director (Information) Press &Public Relations Unit, Ministry of Works, Mrs Blessing Lere-Adams disclosed this in a statement issued on Wednesday, September 20, 2023.
According to Mrs. Adams, the Minister, in continuous assessment of Nigerian roads travelled by road from Abuja, through Kogi, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa up to Port Harcourt in Rivers State through the famous much talked about East-West road to inspect the progress of work on the highway on Tuesday the 19th of September, 2023.
While berating SETRACO construction company working on the East-West road the Minister said, “the gimmicks the contractors are using is the excuse of overloading, I am passing A VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE on the construction of this road, I won’t certify anything on this road, the road has failed and it is not acceptable to us.
“The road is full of potholes, we have paid over N71 billion and the road has completely gone down, the road has been further reviewed from N44 billion to N144 billion, apart from the beautiful bridge you have built, the road has completely gone down, project manager tell your team to meet me in Abuja on Monday to tell me what has caused the failure on the road.
“I do not accept that it is overloaded trucks, our roads are not properly being constructed and I demand that these roads must be properly constructed, it is a fight that Nigerians must win and Mr. President must win this fight for the sake of the Nigerian people to truly enjoy the dividends of a democratic Government.
The Minister said, “I have invited all the Directors of Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) with their engineers from Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, and Akwa Ibom, they should be able to attend to the small failures and redeem all the places that failed on the road and I will hold a meeting with Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) Managing Director this evening to find out how we can collaborate on this road”.
On the East-West road, Umahi said he had discussed with the Edo State Governor that it passed through his state and that was what was causing the traffic jams and hold-ups, he said they had to design a bye-pass so that the heavy trucks could stop moving through the town, it is by so doing that the gridlock could be stopped and business activity in the state improve.
He said, “we have to look at our constituency projects to see how our constituency projects can be meaningful and impactful and I will be discussing this with the leadership of the House of Representatives and the Senate”.
