By Tony Edike

ENUGU— Enugu State House of Assembly has expressed concern over alleged poor quality of work being done by the contractor handling the rehabilitation of Enugu – Onitsha Expressway, saying the road had constituted a major risk for travelers.

The Federal Government awarded contract for rehabilitation of the road from the 9th Mile Corner to Port Harcourt to CCC Construction Company last year, but the lawmakers said the firm has not performed up to expectation as the road, particularly the 9th Mile and Enugu end which was excavated by the firm, had become impassable.

The Minister of Works, Sanusi Daggash, had during an inspection tour of the road recently asked the contractor to improve on his performance as the federal government might not hesitate to terminate the contract and award it to another firm.  He promised to re-inspect the road after a period of three months to determine the level of execution.
But members of Enugu State House Committee on Works, led by former Speaker, Chief Abel Chukwu, told reporters after inspecting some federal roads under construction in the state yesterday, that the condition of the road has worsened.

He said the speaker of the House, Eugene Odoh, had led the lawmakers on inspection of the road about two months ago and expressed dissatisfaction with the job so far done by the contractor, charging him to improve on the job to reduce the plight of motorists plying the road.

Road now in worse state

“I can tell you that the state of the road has become worse than what we saw during our last visit and we are very much concerned about it.  The road is still a death trap and we can’t really understand what the contractor is doing on the road right not. We were disappointed when we passed through the road this morning.

No meaningful job executed compared to money collected 

“Sometime ago, the House on its own, led by the speaker, inspected the road and the contractor informed us of all that was required to get the work going which, without wasting time, we responded by making a resolution that was sent to Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 9, the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, and the Federal Ministry of Works,  yet up till now, they have not done anything meaningful to justify the money they have received for the project,” Chukwu said.

On the Oji River – Awgu Federal road being reconstructed by Master Holdings Nigeria Limited and which was inspected by the committee, Chukwu expressed satisfaction with the job so far done by the firm, saying the contract awarded in January this year had reached 50 percent completion.