Fashola commends quality of Ohafia-Oso federal roads in Ebonyi

The Minister of Power,Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has expressed satisfaction with the quality of work done by contractors handling federal roads in Abakiliki.

Fashola gave the commendation when he inspected the progress of work on the 11.7 km Ohafia-Oso federal road in Afikpo South Local Government Area of Ebonyi on Friday.

He encouraged the contractor to speedy up the job, and promised that payment would be effected as soon as certificate was generated on each section completed.

He reiterated that the Federal Government would now pay contractors handling federal road projects according to the work done on site.

The Federal controller of works in Ebonyi, Mr Olufemi Oyekanmi, stressed the need to make funds available to fast track the work and enhance economic activities in the area.

The project engineer, Mr Anselm Ijebor,  told newsmen that paucity of fund was hindering the speedy completion of the work.

He said that 5km of the N2.2 billion road project had been asphalted while 2km would be asphalted within 4-5 dry weeks.

Ijebor, however, appealed to the Federal Government to release fund to enable the job to be completed on the stipulated time.

He said the road which was expected to boost agriculture and food securiy in the state, tranverse several communities in Ebonyi , Abia, Enugu and Cross River.

He said the contract was awarded in 2012 but actual construction commenced in 2013 when the first tranch of fund was released.

Ijebor said that the project was 53 per cent completed in spite of the terrible and peculiar nature of the project, adding that heavy rains and community restivness had not been friendly .

Some of the indegenes of the area hailed the construction,  which they claimed, had hindered smooth movement of goods and services around the area.

Mr Fidelis Okoro, a businessman, said that the poor state of the road had greatly hindered socio-economic activities in and around the area in the past.

Also, Ifeanyi Ibe, Charles Nwadike and Veronica Nwaobasi, commended the Federal Government for construction.

Fashola also inspected the Nnenwe-Udumu-Uburu road where he was received by the Ebonyi Deputy Governor, Dr Kelechi Igwe.