Joe Effiong, Uyo
The much talked about reconstruction and dualisation of Odukpani-Itu-Ikot Ekpene road may have been abandoned by the Federal Ministry of Works immediately after the presidential election which President Muhammadu Buhari won and also lost in Akwa Ibom and Cross River.
The road which links Akwa Ibom, Abia, Rivers and other states in the South-South, and South East, was the electioneering mantra of the president ahead of the elections.
The road project which was awarded by the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing titled” Dualisation of Odukpani- Itu (spur Ididep Itam) Ikot Ekpene Road” has contract Number 6321 with Design Construct Ltd as supervising consultant while Julius Berger Nig. Plc manages the contract portfolio.
Our investigation authoritatively reveals that the project site located between Ekim and Ididep villages in Itu and Ibiono local government areas along Ikot Ekpene-Odukpani – Calabar highway was deserted by Julius Berger after the presidential election in March this year.
It was gathered that the project site was finally shut down and all construction equipment redeployed to other locations in April.
A guard at the construction yard in Ekim told our correspondent that all the equipment mobilised to the site before the general election have been removed by the company without any explanation to the security men in the premises.
“The site has been shut down since April this year because workers were not paid their salaries for more than four months until we closed the site.
“We only worked on 2 kilometres. No information so far to know when we would resume work. Only management can tell us. They sacked everybody here except few security men to protect leftover materials such as chippings, stone base and granites at the site.”
When our correspondent visited Julius Berger site last week, only heaps of sand and stone base were found without any construction equipment except a few security men guarding some leftover materials.
Meanwhile residents of Ekim Itam and Ididep communities where the former Senior Special Assistant to President Mahammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters ( Senate) Senator Ita Enang comes from have cried out over the deplorable conditions of the abandoned road as the rainy season set in.
From Ididep to Ekim Itam leading to Ekoriko junction, a cyclist, Mr Uduak, Akpan Udoh, complained that the potholes left on the road by Julius Berger had worsened the condition of the road for both motorists and pedestrians.
“The potholes on the road caused by Julius Berger equipment have rendered the road impassable for us especially this rainy season. The road is very bad now. After government abandoned the road, it became more deplorable. But the Federal government told us that the road would be completed within four years.
“We want them to complete this road for us to use. During the election campaign, the APC-led Federal government told us that the road would be four-lane but they have not done it as planned.”
Another resident of the area, Mr Nsikan Peter, observed that there were more accidents on the road than before since it was abandoned.
He recalled that seven people died in a ghastly accident the previous week and called on the Federal government to bring back the contractor to complete the project to save the lives of the people.
The chairman of Akwa Ibom Road Infrastructure and Other Maintenance Agency (AKROIMA), Dr Godswill Ntukudeh, while speaking on Akwa Ibom State Television (AKBC-TV) programme, News Conference, alleged that the Federal government abandoned the road just after the presidential election.
Ntukudeh said the Federal government action was akin to what previous administrations in the state did to his people in Uruan, when the equipment mobilised to reconstruct a major road in the area was immediately evacuated after the 2011 governorship election.
But the community liaison officer for the project (CLO), Mr Ofonime Otu, told our correspondent that the project has not been abandoned.
Otu said the companies handling the job ran into due process hitches because of Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption procedures, which delayed the release of funds.
“The project was mistakenly tagged ‘rehabilitation.’ It has now been corrected. So it is dualisation. If you check the work done from Ekim junction towards Ikot Ekpene, you will see that it is for dualisation.
“When they resume, they will take to a certain level and another company will take over from there. So, the project has not been abandoned. The companies would resume work probably next month,” Otu said.
He said the company owed neither the sub-contractors nor the workers, even as he admitted he was paid his stipend due to some disagreement as the company wanted to rate him with state-based projects CLOs whereas the project in question had a larger scope.