By Austin Ogwuda
Asaba—DELTA State Commissioner in charge of the Directorate of Project Monitoring, Chief Ejaife Odebala, has vowed that  wastage will fully be blocked in the state when his directorate began to certify contract execution before payment.

He noted that such process will enable it juxtapose what was contained in the Bill of Quantity and what was on  ground.

Fielding questions from Vanguard in Asaba yesterday  on how his department  has fared so far and his vision for 2010, Odebala said “we cannot say we have effectively blocked wastage but we have increased awareness and added responsibility to contractors and contract awarding ministries that it is no longer business as usual.

“We have been able to establish that government must get value for money spent; that message sent, the next stage for us to effectively monitor projects is for the department to countersign contract certification process before contractors are paid.

“With that, the directorate can effectively block wastage as it will give the department the opportunity to juxtapose what is contained in the Bill of Quantity and what is on the ground before payment; that way, wastage will be effectively blocked.”

Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan  had while presenting the 2010  budget proposal of N235.71 billion to the State House of Assembly late last year warned that severe sanction would be meted on any public official “whose conduct results in the state being short_changed in its investments”.

While harping on the need for prudence and proper monitoring of projects, the governor charged local government council chairmen be encouraged “to take special in projects being executed in their domains by ministries/departments/agencies or government, assist in the monitoring of such projects and promptly report all shoddy and sub_standard jobs done or being done for appropriate action by the state government”.