…raises team on technical analysis

By Chris Ochayi

The Federal Government has set up a team of experts to study the design of section five of the East West road dualisation project from Oron in Akwa Ibom State to Calabar, the capital of Cross Rivers State.

The team comprising experts in the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, the consultants of the project, and representatives of Akwa Ibom and Cross River State Governments was given three weeks to analyse the existing design of the project and consider alternative designs for cost efficiency.

Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani, who gave the directive at a stakeholders meeting on the project in Abuja, said that the Ministry could not afford any further delay in delivering the project to the end-users, given its inherent benefits to the people.

The contract was awarded to China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) in September 2013 but couldn’t take off due to paucity of funds.

According to the minister, “This meeting was organized so we could be educated on the existing design of the project and not for ulterior motives; my interest is the success of this administration in projects delivery”.

In his remarks, the Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs, Prof. Claudius Omoleye Daramola expressed happiness that the initial four sections of the East-West Road Project from Warri to Oron were almost completed stressing that the award of section five of the road from Oron to Calabar which was the subject of the forum was part of the success story of this flagship project.

Prof. Daramola assured the stakeholders of Federal Government’s commitment to carrying them along in project execution in the Niger Delta region.