The Delta State projects monitoring committee, has distanced itself from publications making the rounds that its members had condemed the ongoing Ikpide-Irri internal road project over poor execution of the job by the contracting firm.
Recall that an Asaba-based Journalist, Mr. Amour Udemude had raised an alarm on his Facebook page on Tuesday, suggesting that the committee while on routine inspection of the project site had beratted the contracting firm for doing a “substandard job”. This claim has however been denied by some community leaders and the CLO of the project, Mr. Eric Odi Ujiro.
“When the project monitoring team came, we received them warmly and conducted them round the sites both completed and ongoing. They were very impressed with the job done so far. This is not the first time this road is been inspected and at no point have there been issues. I am now surprised seeing what Amour is writing. First, Amour was no where near Ikpide when those people came. Where did he now get his information from? Another question is, why is Amour always negative about this project? In my entire life, I have never seen something like this before”, he said.
In a chat with this Reporter, an official of the committee described Udemude’s alarm as strange and a calculated attempt to mislead the public.
“Of a truth, we were in Ikpide-Irri and other neighboring communities like Oleh to check projects as part of our usual routine. When we got to Ikpide-Irri, work was ongoing in several streets in the community. The main mandate of our committee is to ensure that all contractors remain in site untill their jobs are completed and delivered. It is however the ministries or agencies that awarded the jobs that has the powers to okay or condemn such jobs “, he said.
Adding that, “I am aware of the running battle between Udemude and the contractor. Whatever the case may be, they should find a common ground to settle their differences. We are a government agency with a specific mandate. Condeming a job is clearly outside our mandate. If in the process of inspection we notice anything untoward, what we do is to report to the supervising ministry to do a fact-finding. They are the only people that can condemn or cirtify jobs because they own the BOQ. So I am stating it boldly that at no time did we condemn the job done or ongoing. We will not accept been dragged into a fight we know nothing about”.
Of his part, one of the engineers in the Ministry of Works who prefered not to be mentioned, said he was tired of reacting to issues of Ikpide-Irri road.
“How many times will I respond to issues on one road in a week? Some forces are just bent on tarnishing the contractor’s image. From the very beginning till this day, it is this same group of persons that has been bombarding us with complaints and when we visit the site, we always discover those complaints to either be completely untrue or over exaggerated. It is their business, please.
As at the time of filing this report, work is ongoing in the site.
Source: www.dailysearchlinght.com.ng
