A
abujagirl
Guest
Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state on Thursday said that his administration will no longer engage the services of contractors to construct rural roads but make use of direct labour.
Okorocha made this known during an interaction session with members of his executive council, transition committee chairmen, traditional rulers and ministry heads at the Government House, Owerri.
The governor said the decision was based on the attitude of some contractors handling rural road projects, who he claimed, had received over 80 per cent of their contract sum and yet abandoned their jobs.
"It is criminal to collect money for contracts and abandon the work; therefore the completion of rural roads will be by direct labour. My tour of the local government areas was an eye opener where only very few contractors did good jobs on the roads and completed their work as agreed.
"The rest either did a skeletal work or totally left the roads undone.
The governor said that he would take over the rehabilitation and supervision of rural roads, while the committees that were previously in-charge were dissolved.
"I am in a hurry to make all roads in this state motorable, so I don’t want to leave any of my projects uncompleted before December this year. No more award of contracts; we shall now do the roads through direct labour to get the works done, so that new roads can be embarked upon", Okorocha said.
Okorocha called on well meaning citizens of the state to work in synergy with his government to discourage and discipline people of dubious character. The governor directed all the transition committee chairmen and traditional rulers to discuss ways to visit all communities to know the extent of works on the roads and map out new roads to be rehabilitated.
Okorocha made this known during an interaction session with members of his executive council, transition committee chairmen, traditional rulers and ministry heads at the Government House, Owerri.
The governor said the decision was based on the attitude of some contractors handling rural road projects, who he claimed, had received over 80 per cent of their contract sum and yet abandoned their jobs.
"It is criminal to collect money for contracts and abandon the work; therefore the completion of rural roads will be by direct labour. My tour of the local government areas was an eye opener where only very few contractors did good jobs on the roads and completed their work as agreed.
"The rest either did a skeletal work or totally left the roads undone.
The governor said that he would take over the rehabilitation and supervision of rural roads, while the committees that were previously in-charge were dissolved.
"I am in a hurry to make all roads in this state motorable, so I don’t want to leave any of my projects uncompleted before December this year. No more award of contracts; we shall now do the roads through direct labour to get the works done, so that new roads can be embarked upon", Okorocha said.
Okorocha called on well meaning citizens of the state to work in synergy with his government to discourage and discipline people of dubious character. The governor directed all the transition committee chairmen and traditional rulers to discuss ways to visit all communities to know the extent of works on the roads and map out new roads to be rehabilitated.