The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to urgently rehabilitate the Avu-Etekwuru Road and complete the abandoned Oguta/Nnebukwu Bridge in Imo State.
It also urged the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to urgently review and redesign the projects to conform with modern engineering designs and costs so that the jobs can resume in earnest.
The House mandated the Committees on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to liaise with the relevant agencies to ensure compliance.
These resolutions followed the adoption of motion on “The Urgent Need to Rehabilitate Avu-Etekwuru Road and Complete the Abandoned Oguta/Nnebukwu Bridge in Imo State by Hon. Uju Kingsley Chima.
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The House noted that Avu-Etekwuru road is a major road linking Ohaji/Egbema and Owerri-West Local Government Areas of Imo State and is also an access road for multinational oil companies and over 30 communities in the two local government areas.
It also noted that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) awarded contracts for the rehabilitation of Avu-Etekwuru Road and construction of a bridge across Oguta lake to link Nnebukwu Community and Egwe/Oguta Communities;
The House said legislative oversight have been carried out at the contract sites in the presence of the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the contractors to ascertain the level of work done and the reasons for the undue delay in completing the projects.
The House said it was aware that the contracts were awarded over 15 years ago and the contractors were mobilized but no significant progress has been made at the sites as the contractors are demanding for an upward review of the contracts due to high cost of materials.
The Green Chamber worried that the road has become impassable as it has deteriorated and in the process, cutting off the three neighbouring local government areas of Ohaji/Egbema, Oguta and Owerri-West from other parts of Imo State;
It said if the road is not given the urgent attention it deserves, more lives and properties would be lost to, flooding in Avu and Etekwuru and other Communities where the construction of the bridge was abandoned in Oguta.
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