The Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, says President Bola Tinubu is working “very, very hard” to ensure the completion of the Enugu–Port Harcourt Expressway by the end of the year.
Umahi said this on Sunday while addressing newsmen after inspecting the progress of work on the Aba end of the project.
He said that over 85 per cent of the Aba-Umuahia section and about 60 per cent of the Aba-Port Harcourt stretch had been completed.
He said: “The public should know that the President is working very, very hard to complete this road.
“I can say both jobs, for the Aba to Port Harcourt, about 60 per cent of the job has been done, but for Aba to Umuahia section, we’ve done over 85 per cent.
“I am very, very happy with the quality of work by the Arab Contractors, they are one of our best.”
The minister further said that the Federal Ministry of Works had directed the contractors to maintain the completed Aba-Umuahia section.
He also directed the Federal Controller of Works in Abia to visit all ongoing Federal Government’s project sites in the state, at least once a week.
He emphasised that this would help in the early detection of potential problems, and help prevent road failures.
“You should be able to visit all the projects in Abia once in a week, so that if there are impending dangers, you let us know,” Umahi said.
He also said that many roads had become “national priorities because of their poor condition when the president assumed office”.
He emphasised the president’s commitment to provision of functional and durable road infrastructure in the nation
According to him, the Federal Government is working to ensure that the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway would be completed in December.
He disclosed that the Federal Government had adopted the use of concrete pavements in road infrastructure development in order to build the roads that last between 50 years and 100 years.
“So that anyone the president has fixed will stay there for the next 50 to 100 years,” Umahi noted.
He dismissed the excuse of rainfall delaying progress of work, saying that experienced contractors work effectively in rainy season, using effective engineering techniques, such as “tankering”.
Umahi said: “So, there is a system whereby you can do earthwork during the rain, a combination of all sorts of methods, including a tankering.
“Tankering is a method whereby you now go to a point, from point to point, and then dig a kind of sump, then all the water will drain, they pump it out by the method of osmosis.
“So, all the water on the carriage will drain to, you know, by the side of the tanking method,” he said.
He warned that substandard work would not be tolerated on any federal road.
“I was on one of the roads today, and I wasn’t happy and I ordered the expatriates to be sacked from the site.
“I ordered the expatriates to be sacked from the site because this is engineering, not a colour matter.
“So, if the project is not doing well, we have the responsibility to take action,” Umahi said.
He expressed satisfaction with the completed sections of the road and described them as “very beautiful” with “no failure” recorded so far.
He said that the Federal Government planned to toll completed roads in the country to ensure sustained maintenance through public-private partnerships.
He also said that new concrete roads would require “almost 0.001 per cent maintenance for the next 50 years”.
The Project Manager of Arab Contractors, Mr Sherif Fadel,
attributed the slow in the pace of execution of the projects to persistent rainfall.
Fadel also said that funding delays had occasionally affected progress but added that payments had now improved.
An Aba resident, Mr Chukwuebuka Nwankwo, praised the Federal Government and the contractors for the quality of work done on the road so far.
He, however, urged the contractors to increase their pace for quick completion of the project.
Another resident, Mrs Oluchi Ukachi, said the road, when completed, would boost economic activities and ease the people’s hardship.
