Anambra Govt. Awards Over N160Bn Road Projects, Says They Must Be Completed Within Time Frame
Anambra State Government says all road projects must be completed within the stipulated period.
The Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engineer Ifeanyi Okoma, made this known during a critical meeting in his office, between state government and key stakeholders in road construction in the state.
The Commissioner insisted that state government will not extend time for completion of any road project.
The meeting was attended by all the contractors and consultants handling all the road projects awarded last year by Governor Chukwuma Soludo including the Managing Director, Anambra State Material Testing Laboratory, Engineer Ebosie Ezeoke, Chief Executive Officer, Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, Architect Okey Ezeobi, Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Ernest Ezeajughi, the Director, Strategy Execution and Evaluation Agency, Mr. Emma Onyiliofor and members of Project Monitoring Office, PMO, office of the governor.
Engineer Okoma informed that state government has so far, awarded about two hundred and fifty-six point one-five kilometers of road spanning about thirty-seven contracts going on simultaneously across the state.
He pointed out that all the contractors have been mobilized with fifty or thirty percent of the contract sum, therefore, should be up and doing as road infrastructure is paramount in the agenda of the governor.
The Commissioner further disclosed that government has spent over forty billion naira, out of the over One hundred and sixty billion naira sum of the contract fund and cannot accept substandard jobs.
He equally emphasized that no state government in Nigeria has paid such an amount for road contract within one year in office.
Contributing, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Ernest Ezeajughi, charged the consultants and contractors to ensure that they adhere to all specifications and quality assurance as government will not accept any excuse for failure.
He also revealed that more roads would be awarded this year but only to those, who did good jobs.
Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer, Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, Architect Okey Ezeobi, stressed on time lines and completion schedule.
He cautioned that the governor is fastidious about timing, and does not joke with paying contractors, and requested that all the five bodies involved in monitoring, must be available any day they will conduct measurement to ensure quality.
Others, including Engineer Ezeoke and Mr. Onyiliofor, stressed the need for material testing, especially borrow pit materials, compaction, asphalt and bitumen among others, warning that any material that exceeds the required measurement would be rejected.
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