The Honourable Commissioner for Works in Rivers State, Dr. George-Kelly D. Alabo, FNIQS has asked the construction firm handling the Andoni stretch of Ogoni-Opobo-Andoni Unity Road to speed up because there is no much time left. He bemoaned the slow-paced work in spite of the fact that the state government has paid over 90 percent of the contract sum.
Dr. George-Kelly made the charge when he visited the project site as part of his routine project inspection tour in Rivers Southeast Senatorial District.
"When you juxtapose the amount of money we have paid and the level of work done so far, you would see that your pace is not proportional to our effort. We are almost done with payment and you are still at just about 65 percent.
"You don't have to put all your workforce and equipment in one section of the road, split them to about three sections and tackle the work from all sides simultaneously, we do not have much time left.
"CRE, please do a site instruction, tell them to speed up because their pace is not encouraging, and then sit down with them and map out a work programme that will ensure the completion of this project in six months because that was what we agreed.
"We must have activity by activity that will be running each week, and for us to be able to achieve this speed, certain activities must occur concurrently," the Commissioner added.
The Unity Road has a total length of 43.40KM, the already completed and commissioned Opobo axis is 11.15KM long while we have 32.25KM on the Andoni stretch of the road which is currently under construction and expected to be completed in six months time. It has a total of 11 bridges, 10 have been completed, 1 is still under construction.
Earlier in the day, the Commissioner and his team inspected the ongoing construction of the 17.2KM 2nd phase of Saakpewan-Bori-Kono Dual Carriageway which starts after Bori Divisional Police Headquarters and terminates at Kono Water Front. The 1st phase which begins at Kira Junction and ends at Bori is 16.06KM and had been completed and commissioned.
Dr. George-Kelly commended Chinese Civil and Engineering Construction Corporation, CCECC for the quality of job done and the pace at which the construction work is going; the project has attained about 83 percent completion. However, the Hon. Commissioner cautioned host communities to desist from harassing contractors, instead they should channel every genuine complaint to the Ministry of Works, not contractors.
"It is wrong to attempt to stop contractors from working, if you have any genuine complaints or observations, kindly write to the state Ministry of Works, our doors are always opened, we will look into it and address it if necessary and possible.
"You have no business going to the contractors to tell them about the structure of the project, they are only answerable to the state government that contracted them to do the work for your own good. Trying to stop their work for any reason is harassment and we will not tolerate that.
"When you go to them and start making certain demands that was not captured in the scope of the project, they will not listen to you because they did not sign any contract with you, it is the Rivers State Government that they know. And when you keep disturbing them instead of writing to us, that may cause issues that may lead to project abandonment which would be entirely to your own detriment.
"Like when the issue of drainage structure and flooding came up in Kono axis of the road, the community leaders wrote to us, we looked at it and saw that it was a genuine concern. We instructed the contractor on what to do. Today the drains have been channelled to terminate at the river and everybody is happy at the end of the day," he said.
Botem-Ggbene-ue-Horo Road project in Tai Local Government Area that is being constructed by Rivers State Government was also inspected by the Works Commissioner.
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