The Federal Government says it is targeting December this year to complete the ongoing construction of the 30-kilometer Eleme section of the East-West road.
The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, made the projection when he embarked on an inspection of ongoing federal road construction sites in Rivers State.
Umahi, during the inspection, said that the road has been redesigned to stand the test of time and expressed satisfaction with the quality of the job by the contractor handling the project.
He said “Let me commend the quality of their work. We have brought in concrete testing equipment to test the quality of the concrete, and they all passed. So that one is a plus. We have the ironwork very good. By the presidential marching order, RCC Construction firm should finish the two carriageways by December, but I doubt if they will.”
Umahi, during the inspection of the remedial construction site in Okogbe Section 3 of the East-West Road in Ahoada West Local Government Area, assured that the intervention work would be completed in 6 weeks.
He also appealed for more patience from motorists plying the route but warned that the contract would be revoked if the contractors handling the project failed to deliver within the stipulated time frame.
“Our people are suffering here, and so there is no time for pleasure, there is no time for excuses, we must do everything possible minus excuses. I believe that we can rescue this place. We give six weeks, in six weeks if this job is not done, then there would be problems for every contractor that is here” he said.
The East-West road has remained a nightmare for travelers, especially the Okogbe axis, where motorists are forced to spend several hours before passing through the bad portion of the road.
Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri was recently trapped on the road for over three hours while on his way to Port Harcourt from Yenagoa for a summit.
The governor who came down from his vehicle accused the contractor of being incompetent and called on President Bola Tinubu to come to the rescue of the people.
Last week, some former militant leaders blamed Umahi for awarding the contract to an inexperienced contractor and promised a mass action if nothing was done to speed up the work
