Francis Sadhere
Supervising Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Arc. Darius Dickson Ishaku has said that the East West Road slated for completion in December 2014, was going to experience serious setbacks due to lack of funds.
Arc. Ishaku stated this, yesterday at Eleme, Rivers State, after a tour of the East West Road to ascertain the level of progress of work done so far by the contractors handling the project.
According to the Supervising Minister; “December 2014, the completion date for the East West Road is no longer feasible and the reasons are clear. We had a short fall of funds last year and this year we also not sure of the funding. So whatever we get we hope to put it in and we hope to push the contractors as much as the funds could take. But funding is our biggest handicap.”
He said the ministry was proposing that 50% percent of the proposed 2014 budget of the ministry be used for the completion of the East West Road, adding that right now they are working with the appropriation they have with them.
Arc. Ishaku said; “We do not have budget for 2014 yet. We are waiting for the house to pass it into an act. What we have now is appropriation. But in our proposal for 2014 budget, over 50 percent is going to the east west road.”
Speaking to journalist at the end of the inspection tour, Arc. Ishaku who said that he cannot project when the road will be completed, however noted that the ministry was going to push the work forward with the available funds that they had, promising that by the end of this year there will be significant improvement on the road.
“I cannot project a date when I do not have the funds. You can only project a date when you have physical funds to work with. So what we have we are going to put forward and push the contractors more, particularly, where we have traffic hold ups. We have emphasized on those areas so that we can decongest them; areas like Eleme in PortHarcourt area. All that, we are trying to work on and you can see that there are significant improvements in those areas,” he said.
When asked about his feelings on the progress of work done so far by the contractors, Arc. Ishaku commended the contractors for a job well done, saying that if they continued at that rate they were going there will be a lot progress on the road and the people of the area will be happy.
He said; “On the progress of contractors so far, I would say the contractors are doing their best because what I have seen today is quiet encouraging. They have amended all the places that there were flooded last year and they have put a lot of culverts on some areas too. They are doing a lot of sand filling and if they continue like this, before December we will see remarkable improvement on the road.”
The Supervising Minister of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, and his entourage took a tour of the East West Road starting from Warri, Delta State to Rivers State.
Some of the bridges inspected along the road were; the 850 meters Patani bridge, the 750 meters Kanama bridge and the two 144 meters each, Okoso bridges, all at various stages of completion.
