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| Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State. |
With the overwhelming cases of bad
Federal roads that have become major sources of concern to the citizens, the Delta
State Government today called on the Federal Government to come to the state
and repair the many of its roads that are in terrible conditions of disrepair.
The call came from the Commissioner
for Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu at a press briefing by his Ministry of
Works counterpart, Chief James Augoye who briefed journalists on the challenges
occasioned by the rains that have limited the tempo of work on road projects
being undertaken by some contractors.
Augoye, who was bombarded with
questions on the terrible condition of Federal roads and why the state
government is not intervening since it is the citizens of the state that are on
the receiving end as a result of the bad condition of the roads said: “We have
intervened on Federal Roads to mitigate the suffering that our people are
passing through but the state government is not getting refunds for the money
spent in repairing Federal Roads.”
The Works Commissioner pointed out
that the Federal Government has awarded contract for the Benin-Sapele-Warri
Road as a result of which the state government could not take it up. But that
what the state government is doing is to continue to put pressure on the
central government and the contractor.
On how much the Federal Government was
owing Delta State, Augoye said the state government had been to the National
Assembly to defend its construction of the federal roads and for payment, but
that some amount was released in the form of promissory notes. “But for
maintenance of the Benin-Sapele-Warri Road, no refund,” he said, pointing out
that even the work on the Agbor-Eku Road, and Federal road has stopped because
the contractor demobilized from site for lack of funds.
In his contribution, the Commissioner
for Information, Mr. Aniagwu therefore, called on the federal Government to
come and discharge its responsibility of repairing its roads for the
convenience of citizens, as the state government does not have enough resources
because it also has responsibility to deliver its projects to the people of the
state.
Meanwhile, Delta State Government says it has awarded contracts
for 15 roads in Okpanam community in Oshimili North Local Government Area.
The Commissioner for Works, James
Augoye stated this at today’s press briefing in Asaba.
Urging the people to be patient
and bear with the state government, which he said was aware of the discomfort
being experienced said that the continuous desilting of the drainage at Asaba
end was as a result of the sand carried by flood water coming from Okpanam
axis, pointing out that the roads projects were awarded to control the huge
sand that had filled the drainages.
Augoye said the contractor
handling the Okpanam Road project had completed the drains on both sides of the
road and was doing remedial work to enable residents use the road until the
rains subsided when work on the road would commenced.
He appealed to the residents to
be patient with the state government, saying that government understands their
plight.
The works commissioner who
debunked rumour making the round that the contractor handling the Asaba-Ase
Road had demobilize from site stated that work on the road was ongoing
Chief Augoye said that the state
government had no intension to abandon the project, even as he encouraged
communities to take ownership of projects in their community and proper
handling and standard completion of such projects.
He said that by taking ownership
of projects in their community, the community would be able to monitor the
contractor and engineers to ensure that there was no compromise in terms of
standard, adding that deliberate action had been taken to ensure positive
result in Asaba-Ase community road project.
Chief Augoye stated that due to
the rains, government had agreed with contractor to construct only culvet/concrete
work, and gave an assurance that the 7.2km Asaba-Ase Road project would be
completed.
Explaining the reason for the
delay in the completion of Ikpide-Irri Road, the commissioner stated that the
his ministry discovered that the road needed drains on both side, saying the
road was on low land and that state government had awarded the second drains on
the road.
The commissioner who revealed
that the Ministry of Works will only embark on long distance and highly
technical roads that require proper investigation, said that the Asaba Capital
Territory Development Agency and Warri/Uvwie Development Agency were in charge
of short distance and internal roads in Asaba and Warri and environs for quick
result.
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