The Nation Newspaper

Tag: East-West

  • Fed Govt begins rehabilitation of East-West road

    Fed Govt begins rehabilitation of East-West road

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has fulfilled the promise he made to the Rivers State stakeholders to rehabilitate the deplorable section of the Eleme axis of the East-West road.

    Stakeholders from the state led by Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the Minister, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, had during their September 14 visit to President Tinubu at Aso Rock, demanded among other things the rehabilitation of the road.

    Sir Fubara had argued that fixing the road would enable easy lifting of petroleum products after the completion of the ongoing turnaround maintenance of the Port Harcourt Refinery, which is located along the road corridor.

    Read Also: Tinubu fulfills promise as rehabilitation begins at East-West road

    The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, also assessed the section of the road, which had become a death trap to commuters and motorists and promised to fix it.

    It was gathered that the contactors were already mobilised to the site and had begun massive construction work along the road.

    Earth-moving equipment such as cranes, excavators and others had been moved to the area with clearing and excavation already done on both sides of the road.

    Security was reportedly beefed up to guard the workers and equipment, while diversions were created for drivers.

    Residents and other road users, particularly truck drivers, expressed happiness about the ongoing rehabilitation, saying they had suffered a lot on the road.

  • Kiama bridge on East-West Road: Disaster waiting to happen

    Kiama bridge on East-West Road: Disaster waiting to happen

    The East-West Road remains a sad reminder of the failures of former President Goodluck Jonathan. He left the Presidency without completing the road adjudged as the most critical gateway linking the Niger Delta region to other parts of the country.

    Ironically, the most deplorable part of the abandoned road is the axis criss-crossing Bayelsa, the home state of Jonathan. Kaima bridge is the worst hit. The bridge is a ticking time bomb. Unless something urgent is done to temporarily repair it, the bridge may one day become a scene of death and blood.

    The failed bridge is located in Kaiama, the hometown of the popular late Ijaw hero, Maj. Isaac Adaka Boroh in Kolokuma-Opokuma Local Government Area, Bayelsa State. Initially signs that all was not well with the bridge emerged when the connecting rods and concrete linking the road to the bridge began to show disconnections.

    Then road users took solace in a fathom hope that they would soon be diverted to the bridge at the other side of the dual carriage way, which was then under construction. But it has now become a long way to freedom as all work on the second bridge has been abandoned. Nothing was also done to close the widening gap that emerged at the entry and exit points of the existing bridge.

    Now the gap has widened into a gulf and vehicles find it extremely difficult manipulating the bridge edges. The road is always busy because all kinds of vehicles including articulated trucks ply it in torrents. The daily weight of the vehicles has further worsened the fate of the bridge.

    For regular users with mastery of the road, the collapsing bridge poses little danger because they apply tact and care to manipulate the dangerous zones. But for persons plying the road for the first time, the danger is ominous. It becomes a death trap if darkness meets the unsuspecting new user.

    Recently, the bridge was a scene of chaotic traffic snarl. Hundreds of vehicles queued to pass through it. The passengers had their hearts on their hands as their vehicles maneuvered the dangerous areas. Some screamed, others kicked as their complaints saturated the atmosphere.

    A passenger of one of the vehicles who identified himself as Simon decried the silence of the Federal Ministry of Works on the plight of the road users. He said in the spirits of the change mantra, the Federal Government is expected to wade swiftly into emergency situations.

    “This is a disaster waiting to happen. We have been crying and lamenting over the nature of this bridge because we know one day it will cause a heavy accident. They do as if they don’t know that this problem exist. When people die now, you will see them sending condolence messages”, he said.

    An indigene of Kaiama, who refused to give his name, said though they’re were disappointed in Jonathan’s administration, the present government should fix the abandoned road.

    “Jonathan failed us. We know but government is a continuum. The present administration should hasten the construction of the East-West road. They should first treat the case of Kaiama budge as an emergency. We don’t want our town to be a scene of death”, he said.

    A motorist, who gave his name as John said he had suffered at the bridge and wondered the fate of persons plying the road for the first time especially at night. He said it was pathetic that such danger was allowed to linger for a long time.

    He said: ”It is unthinkable and worrisome that the major expressway linking the people of South-South was allowed to degenerate to such a pathetic level. From the look of things, the way the bridge is now, if nothing is done quickly to fix it, we will soon be cut off from other states.

    ”One expects that there should be people going round such sensitive asset, but as it were, nobody seems to care. Maybe they do not want us to travel to other places again. I do not want to know who is responsible for what, what the people want is that the bridge should be repaired to save us from an impending catastrophic danger.”

    Also Patricia, a commuter, said East West road had become a major stumbling block to the people of the Niger Delta region.

    She said: ”The Bayelsa State section of the expressway has remained unattended to for a long time. The contractors handling the road rehabilitation have been dilly-dallying. I do not intend to lay the blame completely at their door because in Nigeria, anything goes. As we speak, maybe they have not paid them their money.

    ”It is a pity that a road that should be rehabilitated with a bias is allowed to deteriorate in such a pathetic manner. This is no time for buck-passing. We urge the government to come to the rescue of road users and fix the bridge quickly.”

    Responding to the matter, the Bayelsa State Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Mr. Wobin Ayuba Gora, said he had written to the Federal Ministry of Works in the state about the development.

    He said: “We have written to the Federal Ministry of Works. I believe that they will soon do something. The last time something like this came up, we wrote and they did something.

    “They piped some iron to reduce the gap. But now that the thing is expanding, they should do more than piping irons. Something needs to be done urgently and I am sure something will be done”.

    Gora said he would send a reminder to the ministry to alert them on the need to address the situation urgently.

    But the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Works, Mr. Lawrence Ewrhudjakpor, said Kaiama bridge is a federal government’s responsibility and had nothing to do with the state government.

    He said, “My duty is to inform the Federal Controller of Works in the state and I have duly informed him. He is aware of the problem on Kaiama bridge.

    “Bayelsa State has spent over N40bn on federal roads in the state without any refund from the Federal Government. As for us, we have done the needful by informing the relevant federal authorities”.

  • East West Road: Travellers groan as Warri/Benin section collapses

    East West Road: Travellers groan as Warri/Benin section collapses

     The Benin-Warri axis of the East/West highway used to be one of the best roads in the South-south region. Shola O’Neil  writes that the fortunes of the once beautiful road  have  nosedived over the years due to lack of maintenance.

    The Benin-Warri axis of the East/West highway used to be one of the best roads in the South-south region. It used to be the route of choice for motorists making their way into the hinterlands of the oil-rich delta region. The 105-kilometer expressway starts at the popular Ring Road in Benin-City and runs through Ologbo, Oghara and Sapele into Effurun-Warri in Delta State, from where it joins the Warri/Port Harcourt axis of the East/West Highway at the DSC Roundabout.

    The fortune of the road highway, which was completed in the early 2000s by the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, has nosedived over the past couple of years. The once smooth, gleaming surface has given way to hunches and humps at the best parts and dangerous journey-aborting, life-ending craters and potholes in many parts.

    Our check revealed that while the worst part of the road are mostly within Delta State, where it is now difficult to drive for two kilometres without having to navigate through potholes and ruptured tarmac or bumpy bridges.

    The worst parts of the road are around Okuovo and Ohorhe communities onward Warri from Benin and before Oghara by Pamol Rubber Estate on the way to Benin-City.

    Our finding also revealed that the Benin onward Warri area of the road is worse. Several portions are completely cut off and forcing motorists to drive on the wrong lane–countering the normal flow of traffic. At the time of our reporter’s visit to the bad spots on Monday, no fewer than two goods-laden trucks and several vehicles were stuck on the mud that the road had become in the area.

    Motorists, who spoke with our reporter, said the scene was much better on that sunny Monday afternoon.

    “If you had come on a rainy day, you will see water flowing through the road and several portions that are waterlogged.”

    There are also dangerous fissures around the bridge over the River Ethiope at Mosogar in Ethiope West Local Government Area. Residents of the area told Niger Delta Report that the nasty fractures and pits on the bridge have caused at least three accidents in the past two months.

    Although there are no data on prevalence of crashes on the road, residents of roadside communities and drivers vowed that the spate of accident has more than doubled over the past year, ostensibly due to appalling state of the road.

    “Now, when you are going to Warri from Benin, you constantly have to switch lanes; when you get to the bad spots. This has increased the number of accidents on the road because some drivers are not so used to the road and they do not expect that a dual carriageway could suddenly become single-lane,” Uruemuesiri, a local driver lamented.

    The chaos resulting from the interchanging of lanes is worsened by the absence of official of the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) on the road. None of the corps officials or vehicles was found at any of the intersections during our reporter’s five-hour fact-finding mission on the road. This was further validated by commercial bus drivers at Agip Junction, Benin-City and at the Effurun Motor Park in Edo and Delta states respectively.

    Contacted on the lack of safety marshals on the highway, the Public Relations Office of the FRSC, Asaba Sector, Ms Eze said she was on leave. She promised to get back to us as soon as possible but was yet to do so at press time.

    Meanwhile, Niger Delta Report gathered that as a result of the present deplorable state of the road, motorists are forced to search alternative and unconventional routes to avoid the bad spots on the Warri/Benin Road. Their options are limited because of the strategic location of the road and non-existent alternative routes.

    For travellers on their way to Bayelsa, Rivers and other towns in Central and Southern Delta State, the Benin/Warri Road is the one and only option because the alternative Amukpe/Eku Road, apart from being longer in distance, is in a worse state.

    The other choice for those travelling to other states listed above is the Israelite journey through Onitsha and other eastern states, which road are equally bad, or even more deplorable than cranky 60 or so kilometres on the Benin/Warri highway.

    It was gathered that the armed hoodlums now capitalise on the state of the road to rob and maim hapless travellers at the bad spots. The criminals, who know that motorists would need to slow down to navigate the dreadful portion of the road, usually operate between dusk and dawn. The threats of robbers have recently been neutralised by the deployment of combat-ready soldiers and mobile policemen at strategic points on the road.

    More infuriating for drivers and other users of the road is the perceived nonchalant attitude of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to the plight of road users. Some of the drivers who spoke to our reporter lamented that the road has been completely neglected by the agency over the years.

    “If regular maintenances were carried out as soon as the bad spots are noticed, we won’t be facing this kind of hell now; it will be easy to deal with before they become major problem. I guess that they (government agencies) won’t be interested at the early stage because the cost is not enough to attract them,” another respondent said.

    Efforts to get FERMA’s reaction were futile as the four telephone numbers listed on the agency’s website were unavailable. Its office on Sapele Road, Benin-City was forlorn when our reporter visited. The only official available, a male, declined comment, saying he was not competent to speak on the matter.

    Nevertheless, residents of the various areas, motorists and civil engineers have warned that unless the Federal Ministry of Works takes immediate action, the Benin/Warri highway could become impassable in the months ahead, especially during the Yuletide season.

     

  • ‘N70b needed to complete East West road’

    ‘N70b needed to complete East West road’

    About N70 billion is required to complete the East-West road, according to Chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on Niger Delta Warman Ogoriba.

    The lawmaker, who spoke at the House of Representatives Press Corps’ Interview series “Hot Seat”, at the weekend, also expressed the resolve of the House in ensuring sufficient provision in the 2015 budget to complete the project.

    His words: “We will again look at the reports submitted by the contractors, such as Setraco, RCC to see what updates they have. But for the budget, I think what we need to finish the East-West road in 2015 is about N60 to N70 billion.

    “And it depends on how much we get from the budgetary allocation for 2015 as well as SURE-P intervention. That is when we will know if the road will be delivered by then. But besides that, work has gone very far and we believe it will continue like that till the end”.

    While giving update on the public hearing on the ongoing developmental projects in the oil producing states, the lawmaker expressed displeasure over the complacency of some contractors towards the developmental projects.

    He added that the public hearing by his committee revealed that some contractors were not taking the projects seriously.

    He threatened that zero allocation would be given in next year’s budget to contractors, who failed to appear before the committee as well as those indicted for poor performance by the ministries of Niger Deta and Environment.

  • East West road to be ready by December, says Onolememen

    East West road to be ready by December, says Onolememen

    Minister of Works Mike Onolememen has said the East-West road will be completed by December.

    He said the road was 85 per cent completed.

    Onolememen, who spoke to reporters at his Benin City home, said 25,000km of roads belonging to the Federal Government were now in good condition.

    He said only 4,000km of the nation’s roads were in fair condition as at 2010, according to a study by the Department of International Development in the United Kingdom (UK).

    The minister said the East-West road was delayed because of funds and militants’ activities in the Niger Delta.

    Onolememen, who debunked insinuations that the Federal Government was playing politics with road development, said many things happened with the East West road that Nigerians were not aware about.

    He said: “The Ministry of Works initially awarded that contract in four sections in 2006. In the wisdom of then President Musa Yar Adua, he transferred that road to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. The funding challenge on that road started in 2006.

    “When that project was awarded, the mobilisation was not paid until 2008. Many Nigerians will not know this. When the mobilisation was paid, you recalled that the level of militancy was high and that drove Julius Berger out of site. They lost some workers.

    “Before the section where the company was doing could be rewarded, it took a long time and it was re-awarded to Sectraco. That is the only section that is outstanding as we speak. Niger Delta is one of the most difficult areas to build a road.”

    “What is more important is that it took Mr. President enough time to raise the kind of money needed to drive construction work on the East West road. Starting from October, the road will pick up and not because of electioneering. We have completed 62 roads. We want to create an unbroken chain of dual carriageways across the country.”

  • East-West Road…The goal post is shifted again

    In Nigeria, one of the most important roads is the East-West Road. It is a major connecting road for the Niger Delta states. It stretches from Delta, to , Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states. Its bad state has affected the economic and social lives of the people living around that axis and the people using it.

    December this year was the deadly set for the completion of work on it. The Federal Government re-affirmed its commitment to ensuring the completion of the East-West Road last weekend.

    After inspecting the road for two days, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Dr. Steve Oru stressed the need to showcase the achievements of the ministry on the  strategic East-West Road.

    Oru explained that because of the importance of the road to the people of Niger Delta and Nigerians, some other on-going projects had been sacrificed to ensure the completion date was realised, adding: “Together as partners, we will complete the East-West Road project by December, 2014.”

    He added: “My mandate in the ministry is mainly to ensure the timely completion of the East-West Road. I appeal to the contractors handling the project to increase their tempo of work. The Federal Government will provide the fund to complete of the project.

    “With the level of commitment by this administration, the road would be completed by December, 2014. Some sections of the road have been completed and are due for handing over by the contractors.”

    He said people cannot judge this administration on East-West Road alone.

    The minister, who said the Federal Government was committed to the development of the Niger Delta, sought the cooperation, support and collaboration of stakeholders in the region to nip in the bud pockets of threats and kidnapping of expatriates and excessive demands by communities from contractors which often result in work stoppage.

    He commended the contractor for the quality of ongoing work on Patani Bridge and assured that the ministry would support the company to enable them speed up work.

    But by the time the Director of Operations, Setraco Nigeria Limited, which is handling the Section 1 & 2 of the project (Warri-Patani Bridge-Kaiama Bridge-Ahoada-Port Harcourt), spoke it was evident that the minister’s expected delivery date may not be possible.

    Setraco’s Director of Operations Mr. Michael Angelo said the schedule time would be extended to December next year, meaning one more year of pain and anguish for users of the road.

    Oru, however, described the December 2015 being targeted by the contractor for the completion of the Kaiama Bridge, which is like the last bit of the job, as unacceptable. He added that Setraco had the expertise to mobilise more hands and materials toward an earlier completion.

    He urged the contractors handling the construction of the 870-meter Patani Bridge and the 750-meter Kaiama Bridge to expedite action on their respective projects in order to fast track the completion of the road by December.

    The minister said: “I believe right now, you people always work in day time; if it is possible to work at night, we (Ministry) need your requirement and everything that can pump up the spirit and make the work move faster. And the ministry is ready to back the contractor up in actualising this dream.”

    On Section 3; (Port Harcourt – Eket) in Rivers/Akwa-Ibom states, Dr. Oru said that the quality of work done by Reynolds Construction Company (Nig.) Ltd. (RCC) so far has been very satisfactory while RCC promised to complete that section at due time.

    While on Eket-Oron, the Minister congratulated the Project Manager, GITTO handling the section 4 of East-West Road, Chief Ghanem Rasibel for doing a good job.

    “The tempo has however increased but still not to expectation, the completion is our priority,” he said.

    The way things are, it will be a miracle for Setraco to complete the work this December having asked for one year extension. It is doubtful if it can reverse its decision even by adding more hands and working 24 hours daily.

    In a nutshell, the goal post has been shifted and no one can vouch if it will not be shifted again. The pain continues and victory is certain!

     

  • ‘East-West road ready by Dec.’

    ‘East-West road ready by Dec.’

    The East-West Road will be ready by December, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Dr. Steve Oru said at the weekend.

    Speaking during a two-day inspection tour of the road, Oru said some other projects had been suspended to meet up with the December deadline.

    The minister also inspected work at the skill acquisition centres in Otuoke, Bayelsa State and Iwuoachang, Akwa-Ibom State.

    He said: “The road would be completed by December. Some sections of the road have been completed and are due for handing over by the contractors.”

    Oru said the Federal Government was committed to developing the Niger Delta and sought the cooperation of stakeholders in curbing the kidnapping of contractors.

    He lauded the quality of ongoing work on the Patani Bridge and urged the contractor to ensure that the bridge is ready by December.

  • The agony called East/West Road

    The agony called East/West Road

    No road in Nigeria has grabbed as much media attention in recent times as the East/West highway, except may be the equally as deplorable Lagos-Ibadan highway. This strategic highway linking Benin to Calabar, through Warri, Port Harcourt and Uyo, has been the subject of debate and controversy. It’s dualisation was given by the dreaded Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) as a condition for peace.

    The road was the focus of debate and unbridled anger again on Monday when thousands of travellers, including international guests from Ghana and other parts of the world, were stranded at a failed portion of the road for several hours. The foreigners who were attending the Environment Summit organised by a Niger Delta group, Center for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), were locked down there for over three hours, despite being escorted by a long military convoy.

    The journey from Benin City to Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital was not supposed to take longer than two hours. But, they spent hours at a short distance from Umeh Junction (before Patani) to Patani Bridge. The cocoon of comfort provided by the air-conditioned vehicles they rode in was not enough to hide their frustration.

    Still, they were luckier than hundreds of other stranded users of the road who had to trudge for kilometres to get pass the failed portion before taking another vehicle to their destinations within and outside the region.

    The scene was like the flood disaster of 2012 all over again when that area of the road and communities therein were cut off from other parts of the country for several weeks.

    Mr. Eghosa Osayande, a civil engineer who works for a German construction giant, told our reporter he left Port Harcourt before the break of dawn on that Monday morning. “I thought I would get to Warri before 9am to resume work.”

    His timing was perfect until he got to Patani at 7:24am. Three hours later, he was forced to make the long trek pass Umeh Junction before getting a vehicle to Ughelli and later to Warri. It was past 2pm when he got to the office.

    The most unfortunate victims were those who drove their cars and were forced to wait, until the road was ‘fixed’ and opened to traffic at snail-speed several hours later.

    “Look at me,” one of the stranded motorists told our reporter at the scene, “I left Port Harcourt this morning for a 2pm meeting in Benin City. I felt that I could get there by latest 11am and attend to some businesses before the engagement began. Here I am at 5pm; I don’t even know when I will get to Benin. The meeting is over already and I can’t go forward or backward.”

    The East/West Road has been a sore spot for people of the Niger Delta, particularly because it leads to the home state of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The knotty gridlock started around the Bomadi Junction, which leads to the home town of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, whose ministry is handling the road construction. Orubebe has assured Nigerians that the road would be completed by December 2014, but with the level of progress so far, it is hard to see how that target can be realised.

    Speaking on the fate of the delegate to its seminar on Tuesday morning, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, the National Coordinator of CEPEJ, described it as shameful.

    He said: “It is a failure on the part of government and agency responsible for the road. It is a bigger failure on the part of the Federal Government, which has failed to put the road in order after all these years. If the road is in place, this development would be have been avoided.”

    Mulade lamented the negative experience and distress of the guests who arrived Yenagoa several hours after their expected arrival time. He urged the Federal Government and the ministry to put pressure on the contractor, Setraco Nigeria Limited, to increase the speed of work and save Nigerians endless hours wasted on the road.

    Eyewitnesses at the scene told our reporter that Monday’s gridlock on the strategic road was caused by a failed section of the road at the Agoloma Junction section of the road on Monday. Residents of the area said the perennially troubled spot had gradually deteriorated over the past few weeks before it finally collapsed on Sunday night.

    “We expected that the contractors which official constantly pass through the road should have seen it and done palliative repair before it finally divided the road into two halves yesterday (Monday). But it is the usually Nigerian culture of waiting until it becomes too bad before doing anything about it,” a community leader from Ohore, who was also caught up at the jam, told our reporter.

    Some of the affected travellers, who spoke with Niger Delta Report, expressed dissatisfaction with the pace and strategy adopted by Setraco. They lamented the company’s perceived haphazard schedule on the road.

    “They will start work on a particular point and without completing it, they would jump to another section, leaving the first place worse than them met it. Also, you would expect that they would fix an alternative route for motorists before opening up a particular spot. But they don’t do that, they just carry on with their job leading to severe hold-ups on several points along the road,” a driver of one of the transport lines that frequent the route said.

    According to the driver who asked that neither his name nor his employer’s be used in this report, is that while hapless travellers are stranded on the road, Setraco officials cruise through, driving against traffic at breakneck speed because of the intimidating presence of large detachment security operatives, including soldiers and mobile policemen, attached to them. The security operatives randomly molest travellers who cross their path.

    “May be if they pass through the same road, and go through the same waste of time as travellers and motorists face on the road they would see the need to plan their work in a way that it will have minimal effect on movement on the road,” the driver added.

    It is not only Setraco’s mode of operation on the road that has elicited anger. Our checks revealed that motorists and locals along the busy highway blame the company’s perceived lack of concern to safety for some of the ghastly accidents that occur on the road on daily basis.

    Our findings revealed that several dangerous gullies and drains are opened by the company without caution signs to alert drivers on the dangers ahead of them. In one of the locations before Yenagoa junction in Bayelsa State, our reporter saw huge pits opened up by the company’s excavation andn dredging operation.

    It was also gathered that until recently the Agbarho bridge in Ughelli, Delta State was a notorious accident spot for several months before the community deployed beacons at the entrance to the bridge.

    A newspaper sales representative in Warri said vehicles randomly “flew” into the river before the community leaders deployed drums to an opening between the onward and outward bridges a few months ago.

    The son of a traditional ruler in Patani (Delta) and two other persons were crushed to death on Saturday 21 September, when his Toyota Highlander Sports-Utility Vehicle (SUV) crashed into one of the concrete barrier placed on the road around Evwreni Community in Ughelli.

    Such pitfalls along the road makes it one of the most dangerous road in the country with dozens of accidents and deaths recorded on a daily basis.

    By Tuesday afternoon, the road had been partially restored. But, for how long it remains passable before another blockade is anybody’s guess.

     

  • East-West: The road to nowhere

    East-West: The road to nowhere

    Long forgotten, the East-West Road became headline news following the dust-up between Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State. MANAGING EDITOR, NORTHERN OPERATION, YUSUF ALLI explores the intrigues and politics surrounding the project, and possibilities of its completion in the near future.

     

    Following persistent complaints of marginalisation, near total neglect and militancy in the Niger Delta, the East-West Road was conceived by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The 338 kilometre road designed to open up the region, traverses Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta States as well as Ondo, Ogun and Lagos, the nation’s economic capital.

    The unique features of the road include an international dual carriage way, 42 bridges, 768 culverts and opening up of settlements and towns for commercial activities. By the Obasanjo administration’s projection, the road should have been a major developmental breakthrough for Niger Delta.

    The contract for the construction of the road was first awarded to the construction giant, Julius Berger, in 2006 but the prevalent militancy in the Niger Delta then hampered the project. Construction workers found themselves being abducted on regular basis.

    The Umaru Yar’Adua government seized the respite offered by the amnesty in 2009 to re-award the contract to Setraco at an initial contract sum of over N138 billion. A source involved in the project gave details of the scope.

    He said: “The road project was divided into four lots. The first lot of 110 kilometres from Warri to Mbiama Junction in Bayelsa State was awarded to Sectraco; the second Lot of 87 kilometres from Mbiama Junction to Eleme Junction was given to Julius Berger, but it later pulled out because of insecurity. Setraco has taken over this lot. The third lot of 99 Kilometres was awarded to Reynolds Construction Company (RCC) from Eleme Junction to Onna in Akwa Ibom. The fourth lot of 50 kilometres from Onna to Oron was secured by Gitto Construction.

    “As for the extension of the road to Ondo, Ogun and Lagos States, the proposal was part of a Niger Delta coastal road network which is yet to be approved.”

    WHAT IS THE ACTUAL COST OF THE PROJECT?

    The file on the real cost of the project is as fluid and as mysterious the actual amount paid to contractors handling it. The figures range from N230 billion at conception in 2006 to the re-awarding of N138 billion to Setraco in 2009; or the N300 billion and N425 billion being bandied about.

    A highly placed source in the team managing the project who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “So far, none of us know the actual cost of the project, only the ministers in charge can assist you.”

    The project suffers from arbitrary variation of cost and abandonment. This worrisome situation has attracted condemnation by the Senate and House of Representatives. In 2012, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts directed the Niger Delta Ministry and contractors handling the East-West Road to explain the N107bn variations in the contract.

    The committee had observed that Sections 1 and 2 of the road, awarded to Setraco Nigeria Limited in 2006 at N138.7 billion had been jacked up to N245.7 billion. The third section of the road, which is 99 kilometres was awarded to RCC at N56 billion from the initial rate of N44 billion.

    At a recent briefing, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe gave insight into what had been spent so far. He said: “Total payments made by Federal Ministry of Works from 2006 to 2009 are in the sum of N33.4 billion with a percentage completion of 10 per cent at the time the project was handed over to the MNDA.

    “To date, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs has paid N122.6 billion and moved the average percentage completion to 51 per cent. The ministry will require the sum of N193.8 billion to complete the East-West Road by the new date of 2014. Going by these appropriations, it is not likely that these funds will be enough to complete the project by December 2014.”

    A NIGER DELTA LIFELINE OR A GOLDMINE?

    In the last one year, none of those in charge of the project have been able to say whether the East-West Road is a lifeline for the people of the region, or a goldmine for certain persons given that so much money had been sunk into the project with very little to show for it.

    For instance, members of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts on December 12, 2012 queried why 87 kilometres of the road awarded to Setraco was costing N112 billion at a value of N1.3billion for one kilometre.

    Chairman of the committee, Senator Ahmed Lawan, faulted 100 percent variation of one of the sections. “We would like to know why the contract is reviewed by about 100 per cent after the contract was awarded. Didn’t contracting firm do its work well before bidding for the job? This is difficult to understand,” Lawan said.

    “We will need further explanations on this. The Ministry of Niger Delta should come up with details of the designs to show what design was done to warrant such an upward review.”

    Technical Director of Setraco, Dr. R. Chaudhuri, attributed the increase to some redesigning. He said: “Section 1 of the road was initially awarded for N64 billion, but was reviewed to N112 billion following redesigns and insufficient materials from the bill of quantity.”

    The House Committee on Niger Delta Affairs had also decried the slow-pace of construction work on the road. Committee chairman, Hon. Warman Ogoriba, said: “It is worrisome to see that these contractors are no longer on site even when you have paid 30 per cent of their liabilities. You should talk to them to see how they can return to site because it is very wrong when we drive across the East-West Road and do not see the contractors on site.”

    GENESIS OF THE ROW

    Apart from a section of the East-West Road being washed away around Okosi Bridge in Bayelsa State, the death toll along the road had been on the increase. In the last one year, more than 300 people had been killed with most of them roasted to death. During the burial of the late National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoye Azazi, the Catholic Bishop of Bomadi Vicarate, Bishop Hyacinth Egbebo, begged President Goodluck Jonathan to fix the road to curb rising spate of accidents and loss of human lives. He said: “Mr. President, save our lives, construct our roads. People are dying on the East-West Road every day.”

    The poor funding of the road project has also put the Presidency on edge. For his part, Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Rear Admiral John Jonah (rtd), blames the slow pace of work on road on the poor release of funds by the Federal Government. It is a position corroborated by one of our sources: “The poor funding of the project made a contractor to collapse and die recently.”

    But the pronouncement credited to Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, that governors of Niger Delta might take over the East-West Road is at the root of the latest uproar. His comment was interpreted to mean that Jonathan had failed the region and the governors would come to the rescue.

    Though the comment was expected to be a wake-up call, it did not add value to the President’s political worth with his kinsmen. The manner in which other stakeholders in the Niger Delta joined the fray messed up the Presidency.

    That intervention provoked this response from Orubebe – whose has the primary responsibility to deliver the completed road. He retorted: “He (Amaechi) was saying that the governors of the Niger Delta want to take over the East-West Road. The resources of Rivers State are so enormous, but I can tell you that there are so many villages in Rivers State that have not been connected by road.

    “Port Harcourt used to be the Garden City of this country. Today, Port Harcourt is a slum. You cannot move in Port Harcourt. I think that he should concern himself with utilizing the resources that are in there to develop Rivers State and the people of Rivers State.

    “I expect him (Amaechi) to talk, if he is performing like Akpabio (Godswill, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State). If today the Governor of Akwa Ibom State is talking about those things, I will tend to listen, sit down and reason with him, but not governor of Rivers State.”

    STATE OF COMPLETION

    To most stakeholders, the East -West Road is about 10 per cent completed. But Orubebe, who would not give a percentage, juggled with figures and left Nigerians to work out the details. He said: “So far, out of the total 338 kilometres dual carriageway road about 50 kilometres had been completed to asphaltic wearing course, 115 kilometres had been completed to asphaltic binder level while over 120 kilometres earthworks had been done.

    “Also, out of the total of 42 bridges, 35 had been completed – including the second N850 million Imo River and Choba bridges. Similarly, of the 768 culverts, 750 had been completed.”

    He also explained what the ministry had done since he came on board. “The road was awarded in 2006 by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. Technically, the design of a road of this magnitude should have taken about one-year, but was hurriedly done within two weeks.

    “When the contract was awarded in 2006, only a paltry sum of N1.2 billion was paid as mobilisation fee to the contractors, and in 2009, when the project was handed over to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs by the Federal Ministry of Works, only 10 per cent of work had been done.

    “In 2010 I sat down with my team and we did a feasibility study and re-designed the road and now you can see significant progress in terms of construction.”

    ANY HOPE FOR EAST-WEST ROAD?

    In spite of the brickbats on the project by stakeholders in Niger Delta, Orubebe is optimistic that the road will be completed in 2014. He said: “In order to complete the project by 2014, according to the programmes of work and cash flow projections for the four sections, the additional funds required in 2013 is in the total sum of N120.9 billion and funds finally required for 2014 is about N93 billion.

    “From the budgetary allocation of 2013 for the East-west Road and the expected sum of N21.7 billion from the SURE-P budget, as well as the N50 billion loan from ADB through the Federal Ministry of Finance, the ministry would be able to raise the sum of N120 billion required for 2013.The balance will be sourced in like manner to ensure completion of the East-west Road in 2014.”

    To ensure the completion of the road in 2014, Orubebe says the ministry has been receiving the support of the Ministries of Finance, Justice, and the Debt Management Office, and is collaborating with financial institutions.”

     

  • SURE-P spends N21b on East-West roads

    The Subsidy Re-investment andEmpowerment Programme (SURE-P) Committee has spent N21 billion as counterpart funds in the ongoing reconstruction and rehabilitation of the East-West Road.

    A member of the SURE-P committee, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, made this known in Oron, Akwa Ibom, during an inspection of the road.

    Ohuabunwa, who was accompanied by other committee members and management staff of SURE-P inspected the 388-kilometre road that stretches from Oron in Akwa Ibom to Warri in Delta State, said the fund was part of the proactive intervention in the nation’s infrastructure.

    He said at a press conference in Oron that the SURE-P’s intervention has helped to fast-track the pace of work on the road contract awarded since 2006 and boosted the well-being of Nigerians through financial commitments.

    Ohuabunwa, who is also the Managing Director of Neimth Pharmaceuticals Plc, said the intervention was funded from the Federal Government’s savings from the partial removal of subsidy from petroleum products.

    According to him, the innovation of SURE-P intervention in the on-going massive construction and rehabilitation of the nation’s infrastructure and reactivation of social safety net remains the guaranteed funds for contractors and prompt payment for work done.

    “Our intervention approach is to assure the contractors of availability of funds to pay for completed jobs and once the certificate of job completion is generated and verified, we pay the contractors promptly.

    “We were here in August and we are here to assess the extent of work done since our last visit. From what we have seen, we shall settle the last bill that the contractors provided,” he said.

    Another member of the committee, Prof. Kunle Ade Wahab, also expressed satisfaction with the progress of work in Sections 3 and 4 of the project and charged the contractor to do more, stressing that funding was no longer an excuse for delays.