The Federal Government has revealed that the East-West road is 80% complete as the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs says it awaits the payment of N10.4 billion, which would be handled by the Ministry of Works and Housing.
This were disclosed in a statement by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, in Abuja on Wednesday.
What the minister is saying
Akpabio revealed that the sum of N10.4 billion is awaiting release to the Niger Delta, which accounts for the remaining 20 per cent for the completion of the East-West road.
He said, “The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs took over the construction of the East-west roads in 2009 from the Ministry of Works at about 8 per cent.
“The road was awarded in 2006 by the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. The road is about 338 km in length and starts from Effurun in Warri and ends up in Oron, Akwa Ibom.
“As at the time I came into office and took over in August 2019 we were able to scale up the construction of the road from eight percent to 80%.
“The sum of 10.4 billion is awaiting release to the Niger Delta, but I have directed that it should be paid to the East west road account that will be controlled by the ministry of works,”
He said the remaining sum accounted for 20 per cent of the completion of the road, citing that Section 0-15 which starts from Eleme junction to Port Harcourt is about 18km, a section that affects the people of Ogoni directly.
“That section was not part of the original contract in 2006. Because at that time the section was already dualised into functional bridges.
“But because of wear and tear as at 2018, they noticed cracks in one of the bridges and the road had suffered depreciation and then the Federal Executive Council awarded a new contract for the reconstruction of the 18km road.
“However, no money was released, but from the money the Federal Government released to us in 2019, by 2020 we mobilised RCC Construction Company to begin that section with N4.9 billion.”
