‘Consortium committed to project’

 Yinka Adeniran, Ibadan

THE concessionaire company handling the Ibadan Circular Road (ICR) project, ENL Consortium, at the weekend reiterated its commitment to the development of the state as well as its belief in the capacities of the project to open up Ibadan for more development.

This company said it remains apolitical and will work with any government concerned about the development of the state.

It added that a key issue that led to the slow pace of work on the project was occasioned by withdrawal of the initial financiers, who insisted on a Federal Government guarantee before making funds available to execute the project, but which could not be provided early by the former administration in the state.

The ICR project was awarded by ex-Governor Abiola Ajimobi on a Build-Operate and Transfer concession on June 17, 2017 with the 32km East Wing expected to have been completed 18 months after.

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But, the project became a subject of the public concern again when Governor Seyi Makinde verbally issued a stop-work order during an inspection tour of the project as a result of his disappointment at the slow pace of work on the site.

The order was, however, rescinded later by the government after what it described as a “review meeting” held between the government and officials of the ENL consortium.

Addressing reporters after conducting them round the site to see the level of work done in the company of top officials of the organisation, the Executive Director, Southwest Coordinator, Dr. Kemi Jorge, explained that the 18-month initial arrangement was only to cover for a single lane 32km East Wing of the project.