Works’ Minister Speaks On FG inherited Projects And Efforts To Salvage Them
Works’ Minister Speaks On FG inherited Projects And Efforts To Salvage Them
The Minister of Works, Sen. David Umahi reveals that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration would do everything possible to not abandon inherited projects in parts of the country despite paucity of funds.
The Minister revealed this during the 29th meeting of the National Council on Works on Thursday at Re Meritona Hotel, Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
He noted that Tinubu’s administration inherited a lot of projects adding that most of the federal roads which are in bad shape pose a great challenge in view of the insufficient funds.
“We have segmented the roads state by state, zone by zone, paying more attention to roads on economic routes and those that are 80 per cent completed,” he said.
“The high cost of projects is a huge factor and this makes people query the cost of constructing state and federal roads.
“Most of the state roads have 7.3 carriage way with 1.5 shoulder on surface dressing.
As part of measures to ensure quality jobs, the Minister said price variation and surface dressing are no longer obtainable because within one or two months of completion water would start permeating through such roads.
“I wish to announce that we have abolished surface dressing as a policy in the ministry because it is a serious cause of failures on our roads,” he said.
“Asphalt is not good with water and once it gets to the road’s sub base, the asphalt weakens it and the carriage pavement will fail.
“We have also abolished Variation Of Prices (VOP) and seek the enactment of a law to reserve a percentage of a contact’s sum for the project’s maintenance,” he said.
Declaring the event open, the Governor of Ebonyi State, RT. Hon Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, expressed hope that the deliberations would help to address issues relating to contract deficits and timely execution of projects.
“This event seeks to address the defects of basic infrastructure in Nigeria and bottlenecks that characterise awards and timely execution of contracts.
“I thank my father and mentor, Umahi for reminding us that work is a national emergency which needs equal attention by the government and the broad spectrum of society.
“The minister as a civil and structural engineer is walking on a familiar terrain which enabled him give Ebonyi the best road network in both urban and rural areas,” he said.
