DELTA State Government, on Monday, expressed commitment to address the challenges posed by the collapsed wooden bridge which connects Uzere community in Isoko South Local Government Area to Asaba- Ase in Ndokwa East Local Government Area of the state.
The State Commissioner for Works (Rural and Riverine Roads), Mr. Charles Aniagwu, who inspected the collapsed wooden bridge, restated Governor Sheriff Oborevwori’s desire to link communities with bridges and roads.
He said: “Governor Oborevwori, on hearing that this wooden bridge has been washed off yesterday, directed that I come to this place to ascertain the level of destruction.
“And also find out what immediate measure we can put in place before the proper reconstruction, in order to enable our brothers and sisters who live in Isoko South and Ndokwa East to commute through this place.
“You can see that, over the years, they had been able to even drive through this wooden bridge between Asaba-Ase and Uzere. You also know that Delta is a coastal state; so, you see us building a lot of bridges here and there.”
Mr. Aniagwu, who was accompanied by the Commissioner for Lands, Surveys and Urban Development, Chief Emamusi Obiodeh, and the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Sir Festus Ahon, also inspected some ongoing road projects in Isoko North and Isoko South Local Government Areas, where he urged the contractors to ensure speedy and quality delivery of the projects.
At the site of Emevor-Orogun road project phase two, he commended the contractor, Emo Rock Concept, for the quality of work and the speed.
He said that it was the record of the good work done in phase one that necessitated the contractor to continue with the phase two.
The Works Commissioner and his team also visited the deplorable 5.7km Igbide-Olomoro road project to officially hand it over to a contractor for construction.
Aniagwu said: “For quite some time now, our brothers and sisters in Olomoro and Igbide have continued to make a case for this road to be reconstructed.
“It was an existing road but along the line, it failed completely, making it very difficult for them to commute.
“So, they wrote and made some form of request and, in the course of examining it, we saw that their request has merit and the road was awarded.”
According to him, “What is more important is that we made sure that this road was awarded to a contractor that is very competent. We have made it clear that anybody we are giving jobs to, they must have the capacity to carry out that project in line with the Bill of Engineering Measurement and Evaluation.
“Secondly, the contractor has to meet up with the speed that we have also envisaged in the course of the award. You may want to ask why we are talking about speed?
“You cannot trust that the price of an item today is going to be the price of the same item tomorrow; we don’t want to suffer a kind of situation where we are seeing people coming for reviews.
“We want where we are able to award a contract and it still stays at the cost at the point of award until the project is completed. And that is why you have seen that the Governor is graciously making provision for mobilisation for a number of these our contractors.
“Once we mobilise you, you have to marry the project and the only way you can do that is that we have to push you. So, we are officially handing over this project and we are hoping that you stay with the project.
“We have also said that we will not also compromise quality on the alter of speed. While we push you to speed up projects, we also want that speed to be commensurate with the quality specified for the project.
“Going forward, we will constantly be on the road to monitor what the contractors are doing and ensure they are meeting up with these two criteria.”
The Commissioner for Lands, Chief Emamusi Obiodeh thanked the Governor for awarding a contract for the Igbide-Olomoro road reconstruction in respect of which they had written to several administrations about.
According to him, “I want to use this opportunity to appreciate the Governor for the speed at which he attended to the Igbide people and by extension, the entire Isoko nation.
“This road has been a problem to us for the past twenty years.
We have been writing even from the days of OMPADEC, DESOPADEC, But just one year in office, His Excellency has heard our cry and what we are witnessing today is the official hand over of this road to the contractor.
“We are very grateful to His Excellency and we promise that we are going to give the contractor the necessary support to deliver the project.”
