Commission frowns at lapses in East-West Road N37.5b contract execution

The Fiscal Responsibility Commission has frowned at the lapses noticed in the supervision and execution of Eket-Oron axis of East-West Road in Akwa Ibom State.
The Acting Chairman of FRC, Victor Muruako, who inspected the road on Wednesday, expressed displeasure at the slow pace and poor quality of work done by Gitto Construction Company.
The contract for the 50-km stretch from Oron-Eket-Onna axis of East-West Road was awarded in 2006 and completion date was 2010.
The completion date of the road was, however, extended to February 28, 2016, but up till this November, the work is at 96 per cent completion stage.
The total contract sum was N37.5 billion and so far the contractor had collected the sum of N33 billion for the Eket axis of East-West Road.
Muruako said that the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs had not supervised the East-West road construction effectively.
He expressed dismay that the Project Secretary from the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs at construction site could not provide relevant information on the progress of the contract.
Muruako said: “The ministry is not supervising this project. This is the problem in this country. You are supposed to be on the contractor’s neck to ensure that the work is done.
“We owe the citizens the obligation to do our work well. The citizens should get value for money spent by the government on projects.”
He expressed regret that some portions of the road had already failed while the contractor was still on site.
Muruako also said that road signs and comfort facilities provided in the construction design had not been fixed by the contractor.
The PRC team also questioned why the dual carriage way from Oron was altered into a single lane at Ikot Usekong stretching about 7.1 km through Eket-Oron road to Eket-Onna bridgehead.
Responding, the Project Manager of Gitto Construction Company, Ghaniem Rasbia, explained that the 50km road had seven bridges.
Rasbia said that the alteration of dual carriage way into single lane at Ikot Usekong was approved by government to save cost arising from payment of compensation to property owners.
He said that the government had consultation with the people and a bye-pass was approved in lieu of the dual carriage way, but the contract had yet to be awarded.
Rasbia informed the commission that his company was working on the third review of the contract based on variations in quantity and cost incurred by the company.