Rep raises alarm over poor handling of road project in Calabar community

From Judex Okoro, Calabar

A House of Representatives member for Calabar Municipality/Odukpani Federal Constituency, Rt Hon Ntufam Eta Mbora, has raised concerns over the poor handling of a road project in his constituency.

Mbora, who spoke with reporters in Calabar shortly after inspecting some constituency projects in Calabar and Odukpani, expressed dismay at the shoddy handling of road project located at 8-Miles at the outskirts of Calabar metropolis

The lawmaker, who explained that he has earlier drawn the attention of officials of the Federal Ministry of Works in Calabar on the need for strict supervision, accused the works officials of colluding effectively with the contractor, Messer Cholaina Nigeria Limited based in Lekki, Lagos, in messing up the construction of the Old Adia-Abo road in flagrant disregard to standard procedures and the contractual agreement.

‘After inspecting the Old Adia-Abo road, I feel very sad on its terrible state and have personally reported the matter to the office of the Minister of Works in Abuja and other relevant MDAs, urging them to compel the contractor to return to the site and quickly redress the anomaly before issuing a certificate of completion to process any payment,’ Mbora said.

‘I would not allow any contractor to frustrate any of my constituency projects through poorly executed jobs, thereby exposing the envisaged beneficiaries to imminent danger and by so doing, negating the good intention of government.

‘Before now, some concerned stakeholders of the community have raised the alarm over the fraudulent activity of the company. I can assure them that efforts are on to redress the abnormally.’

Speaking, a concerned resident of the area, David Edem, Esq, appealed to the relevant authority to prosecute the contractor and the federal controller of works in Calabar for allegedly conniving to sabotage the genuine intentions of the government in the area of addressing the basic need of the citizenry.

Edem alleged that the contractor assigned for the job lacks the needed manpower, engineering flair and basic vital equipment for road construction.

He expressed shock that even after notifying the federal controller of works on the alleged incompetency of the contractor, the federal controller intentionally turned a blind eye to a haphazard job.

According to him, ‘when the company arrived the community with spade, shovels and diggers without any earth- moving equipment to construct the Old Adiabo road, the community visited the federal ministry of work and alerted the controller on the glaring inadequacies, both nothing was done to check the excesses of the company.’

Also speaking, Ene Ankot, Esq, said the management of the company should be held responsible for the low standard of the job, stressing that the firm lacks professional integrity to execute any engineering assignment judging by the quality of the job done at the old Adia-Abo Road.

When our correspondent visited the office of Cross River State Controller of Works at the Federal Secretariat Calabar, the front desk officer, who does not want his name on print, said the Federal Controller, Engr Bassey Nsentip, was out on official duty. A call put across to the controller was not returned.

A source in the office, however, disclosed that the ministry headquarters in Abuja awarded the road project without drainage to channel water, thus the washing away of the road shortly after it was constructed.

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