From Geoffrey Anyanwu, Awka
Fears that the former Vice President, Dr Alex Ekwueme and his kinsmen in Oko community, Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State, might be rendered homeless by gully erosion have heightened.
Yesterday, Daily Sun gathered that Rhino Construction Services, the company handling the gully erosion project at Nanka and Oko communities where several hectares of land, including buildings have been washed away by erosion, has concluded plans to quit the project. Recall that Ekwueme’s ancestral home was put on the danger list two years ago and has now been chopped into by the gully as a result of the present rains. There are fears that it might eventually cave in anytime if urgent action is not taken. Already residents of both Oko and Nanka communities have expressed apprehension over Rhino’s decision to pull out of sites when no other contractor or company has come to handle the situation, especially now that the rains have increased.
Although no official statement was got from the construction company, a reliable staff, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed that the firm has decided to pull out due to non award of a fresh contract on the project, having completed the first phase which has arrested the erosion.
The staff said: “We completed this project since June last year and have even done extra work, hoping that the federal government would approve the commencement of the second phase of the job, but from what we gathered, the Anambra State government has written to the federal government asking them to hands off the job as the World Bank was set to take over.
“What we have done in this first phase of the job can sustain this project for another 10 years, but the federal government needs to approve palliative works on the project for it to last that long. This is because we all know that the World Bank will not commence work on the site immediately.
“Procurement process for projects takes years. Around Anambra here, there are some other projects that the World Bank is handling which have lasted years without being awarded, and it would not bye-pass those ones to award this one.”
According to the source the period it would take to commence the World Bank contract would hamper the work already done on the project if palliative work was not done on it. “It will be useless for government to leave a N2 billion project to collapse because of lack of palliative that won’t cost much,” he said.