Amaechi demands refund of N105bn from FG

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

PORT HARCOURT:  GOVERNOR Chibuike Amaechi has appealed to the federal government to refund 105 billion naira so far expended by the state government on federal government projects in the state.

Governor Amaechi who made the appeal when the Good Governance tour train led by the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku visited the state said the Rivers state government had executed a total of 405 kilometers of federal government roads in the state since he assumed office as governor in 2007.

Amaechi said the state government had fulfilled all requirements demanded by the Federal Ministry of Works, adding that the Minister of Information should help the state government push for the refunds.

One of the federal government road projects in the state being constructed by the state government is the 42 kilometer dual carriage Port Harcourt end of the Port Harcourt Owerri road project which the government said gulped 37 billion naira and would be ready by May this year.

”We are begging the Federal Government to pay us the money we used to execute federal projects in the state. So far, we have executed N105 billion worth of federal projects.

“We have fulfilled all requirements as demanded by the Federal Ministry of Works and we are appealing to Minister of Information to tell them to pay us our money,” the governor said.

Meantime, the Federal Government has ordered the contractor handling rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt international airport, Omagwa to ensure work is completed before the end of April this year.

The Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku gave the order when the Good governance tour train inspected work at the airport.  The Minister said the federal government would not tolerate any excuse from the contractor who had failed to deliver on his December 2012 deadline.

“The Port Harcourt Airport was supposed to be delivered by last December, the same period Lagos local airport was completed. We are worried over the slow pace of work in the airport.

“We are tired of excuses. The masses who use this airport are suffering. You must deliver this project by April because; we don’t want any further extension. We need to see more activity in this place.” he said.