*Dismisses claims of more road projects in south than north

*Promises completion of Bodo-Bonny, Ahoada section of East East-West Road by December

By Daniel Abia, P/Harcourt

In a dramatic posturing, the Minister of Works, Dr. David Umahi, has dismissed the insinuation by the apex association of the Ogoni people, KAGOTE, a composition of (Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme) local government areas of Rivers State that he hoodwinked President Bola Tinubu to commission an “incomplete” section of the road.

Umahi described the leadership of KAGOTE as “faceless”, revealing that the same section of the road was awarded for N156 billion by the past administration, yet work on the project never started.

The minister said complete reconstruction work actually began when President Bola Tinubu came to office and gave approval for work to commence immediately on the project.

Remember that the President of KAGOTE, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Deeyah earlier this week tackled Umahi over alleged claims that the East-West road has been completed, and that he misled the President to commission the Eleme section of the project which is still under construction.

“President Tinubu was misled into believing the project had been completed, whereas work on it, is still on-going”, Deeyah said, adding that “anyone in doubt can visit the site and you will confirm that the concrete pavement, which is meant to be the uppermost layer, wearing or surface course on the road, is yet to be completed, while the four overhead bridges are at various stages of piling, let alone be completed”, he said.

But Umahu insisted, “They must be faceless stakeholders because even the opposition they have been on this road and they called me to say I should thank the President for this road”, he slammed KAGOTE.

“This is the first time in the Niger Delta that you are using this kind of concrete pavement. Thanks to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. What we did was phase this project. Phase one is one full carriage way and phase two is the second carriage way, and the bridges and the flyover. So we are done with phase one and that’s what we commissioned”.

He explained that the few noticeable ‘disjointed portion’ is where the flyover ramps are supposed to come. “But I’ve directed them (contractor) while we wait for the super-structure of the flyovers and the bridges, they should go and put asphalt there and I give them seven days”, Umahi stated.

“You will not have any disjointed portion. So they are going to do that. It’s an added cost but it’s good for the people so that you have a seamless journey from Eleme junction to Onne,” he emphasized.

The Minister commended the firm handling the road for the quality of work, saying, “They have done extremely very well. They were too fast as we agreed to net off this one carriage way by April which they did.

“So I commend them very highly. We are back to fight for the second carriage way because it’s been delayed now. “We are back to fighting on the bridges and flyovers. But I’ve seen the bridge expert here and he is going to give us 80 span bridges.

“It’s one of the newest technologies that he is going to be using. So I’m very happy that I saw him, I’ve noticed the number of jobs that he has done. So in the next three, four, five months, you will witness a different ball game in this place”.

According to him, “A lot of companies are here, the treasure base of the country is also here. So we are very much interested in this Road. And don’t forget that this road when we took it over even though it had not started, was awarded for N156 billion by the past administration but it never got started.

“So when we came on board we looked at the traffic and we knew that the 10cm of asphalt, you know binder 6cm and wearing of 4cm won’t be able to carry the traffic. And so we redesigned it. In most cases we dug one meter filled with lumps, sharp sand, stone base of different layers, and then 200mm of reinforced concrete pavement.”

The minister said that the Bodo-Bonny road construction handled by Julius Berger is about 85 percent completion, projects handled by Rock Result along Ahoada section of East West Road are at 60 percent completion, adding that RCC, Setraco have shown commitment in their jobs.

Reacting to claims that the government is concentrating developmental projects in the South than the North, Umahi said, “I saw what baffled me in the social media, when faceless people said that they are Northern elders, saying that more projects are being done in the South than in the North. And that is very funny and quite misleading”.

He explained, “Amongst the four legacy projects, the North has 52 percent, while the South has 48 per cent: Lagos-Calabar 750, you have the Sokoto-Badaggry 168, Calabar-Abuja 465, Akwanga-Jos-Bauchi-Gombe 439. And so when you aggregate the States and length they are all passing through, you will find out that the North has 52% while the South has 48%.

“Now, you come and think about the longest sections, we procured section 1 in Lagos which is 47. 47, and that is 1.068 trillion. We purchased in section 2, which is about 1.3 trillion. We purchased section 3 and 3(b) which is Cross River and Akwa Ibom, which is about 1.3.

“You see what we have procured; 65km plus 55km, that is 120km plus 47.47. So you will be looking at about 170km. One section at Kebbi is more than that and that is 258km. We purchased the 1st carriageway which 968 billion. By the time you purchase the 2nd carriageway which we will do this month, that will be about 2trillions.”

In Sokoto State, the Minister said the government is constructing 120km which is 465 billion, adding that by the time “you purchase the 2nd carriageway, it will almost be 1 trillion”.

“In Zamfara, Kastina, Kaduna which we inherited at zero point completion, is about 750km and total amount is about 825 billion. The Abuja -Kano section 1,2,3, first section 1 and 3 is 118km which is 252 billion and you have section 2, which is 164km, which is 525 billion. And so if you join the two, you will be getting close to 1.6 trillion.

“So, when the same faceless people talk about second Niger Bridge, it is 134billion for section 2(a) and 174billion for section 2 (b).

“When you talk about Lagos-Ibadan, all that we needed to complete the work from where it stopped last time was 93 billion. So, when you saw Lagos – Ibadan 196 billion, that is the total contract sum from past administration and this present administration and so is only 33 billion.

“I don’t know where the jobs that are being concentrated in South compared to North. Let me emphasise that Mr President is developing the entire country in a very fair manner. If you look at Zaria to Hunkuyi, that’s about 156 km that has been awarded. If you look at the Kastina-Jigawa-Kano, which is 262 km by dual task credit, it is 264 billion. Dikwa in Borno State is 50 km under Dangote task credit, you have Pama which is 42 km, it is there you see northern bypass, etc,” he said.