By Enyim Enyim

ONITSHA—The federal government is to start work on the Onitsha water scheme project that was recently terminated because of poor performance by the former contractor, FUNTAI.

Commissioner for information in Anambra State, Chief Maja Umeh, dropped the hint in Awka.

The job was awarded at the cost of N6million, with the federal government contributing N4million, while the state government was to contribute N2 million.

Besides, Umeh said the federal government had harkened to the cry of the people of the state on the issue of erosion menace by assuring that work would soon start on erosion affected areas in the state.

On roads, the commissioner said the state government would, henceforth, arrest and prosecute drivers who disrupt work on Enugu- Onitsha road federal project, packing illegally along the old Onitsha toll gate
“ Government has received many complaints from the contractors handling the road that trailers and tanker drivers, who illegally pack along the road, have been disrupting their job, thereby slowing down the pace of work.

“We have, therefore, resolved to deal decisively with any erring driver. We will arrest, prosecute and make them to pay heavily because they are sabotaging the efforts of the state governor, Mr Peter Obi, who attracted the federal government presence to the state in respect of the road.”

The commissioner thanked the governor for attracting federal minsters to the state, who have accepted to do the second Niger bridge, build the Naval base in the area as well as fencing of Onitsha Army barracks.

He hinted that the contractor, FUNTAI that had been handling the Onitsha water scheme had been sacked for inefficiency, explaining that the state government’s contribution to the scheme was N2million, while the federal government’s stood at N4m.

Umeh appealed to the people of the state to exercise patience with government on stopped roads projects as a result of rainy season, assuring that government would start the projects as soon as the rains were over.