By Festus Ahon

ASABA- DELTA State Government has ordered the contracting firm handling the construction of the 3.35 kilometers Ikpide-Irri Township Road in Isoko south Local Government Area, PortPlus plus Nigeria limited, to immediately remove a failed culvert on the road and thoroughly construct the road to specification or be sanctioned.

The State Commissioner for Works, Chief James Augoye, who gave this directive while inspecting the road project, also told the contractor to put other culvert to test.

He warned the contractor and other all contractors handling road projects in the State to adhere strictly to specifications and avoid cutting corners in the execution of their jobs.

Augoye explained that the inspection of the project was to assess and evaluate the quality of job done so far on the road, following petitions and allegations of shoddy job done by the contracting firm.

Reiterating the State government’s committment to providing sustainable road infrastructure, He assured that all anomalies detected in the execution of the project would be corrected immediately.

He commended the Ikpide – Irri community for exhibiting maturity and restraint in directing their observations and complaints to the appropriate authority, urging other communities to take charge of projects sited in their communities and report any anomalies noticed to the Ministry for necessary actions.

He also advised contracting firms handling road projects to always engage youths of their host communities on their project sites as a way of building and sustaining cordial relationships.

Earlier, the President of the Isoko Monitoring Group, Comrade Sebastian Agbefe, commended the works commissioner for his promt response to their petition.

President-General of Ikpide Irri, Mr Micheal Onojefe who also spoke thanked the state Government for the road Construction.