FG, Abia govt collaborate to complete Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Road

The Federal Ministry of Works has said that the federal and Abia governments are working simultaneously on the Umuahia-Ikwuano-Ikot Ekpene Road to ensure its timely, successful completion.

The Federal Controller of Works in Abia State, Chidi Uwaeziozi, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in his office in Umuahia on Tuesday.

Mr Uwaeziozi said that the federal government’s contractors, the Hartland Civil Engineering Construction, were still on site, alongside the Abia State Government’s contractors, the Geld Construction Company.

He confirmed that the Abia State Government only took over the rehabilitation of the 25-km Phase Two of the 49-km project.

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President Bola Tinubu had approved the handover of the project to the Abia State Government, demonstrating the federal government’s commitment to addressing long-standing infrastructure challenges in the South-east.

Governor Alex Otti of Abia commissioned the road for rehabilitation in October last year, after many years of dilapidation, to enhance economic growth, connectivity, and rural development.

However, the presence of the federal government’s contractor had raised questions about whether the road was truly being rehabilitated by the Abia State Government.

Reacting to the issue, Mr Uwaeziozi said that Hartland was working on the remaining 1.5-km section of the Phase One, which is between Isiala Oboro and Ogbuebulle communities both in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia.

He admitted that the project, initially awarded to Hartland in 2019, had faced numerous delays due to funding and compensation issues.

Mr Uwaeziozi disclosed that the segments in Abia territory that involved the demolition of structures and payment of compensations were part of the section handed over to the Abia State Government.

He said, “The projects are scoped in such a way that we can only accommodate the one that we have money to pay for.

“So the contractor does the work, and we pay him.

“And by reason of not being scoped in, phase two is no longer in active contracts, which is where the Abia State Government came in.

“Our own contractor (Hartland) still has a contract running in phase one, so he has an obligation to finish that.”

NAN reports that the contract was awarded in 2019 to Hartland at ₦13 billion, with a completion period of four years.

Sam Onuigbo, who represented Ikwuano/Umuahia North/South Federal Constituency in the 8th and 9th National Assembly, facilitated the road project.

Meanwhile, Mr Onuigbo has expressed gratitude to the Tinubu administration for its interest in completing the project.

He explained that the contractor’s presence on the site showed that the federal government was still desirous of completing the project for the benefit of commuters from the South-east and elsewhere, up to Cameroun.

He recalled that the road was completely impassable until he moved a motion on the floor of the House in 2016, and followed up with then-Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola.

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He lauded the cooperation between the federal and Abia State governments in completing the project.

“It is a welcome development that the Abia State Government has decided to take over a section of the road, which is about five villages to the main border in Akwa Ibom.

“The Federal Government has already done the other section from Ikot Ekpene to Obot Akara.

“With that, the road will now become smooth to use for a lot of other things, for travelers, tourists and those rushing to go to the airport,” Mr Onuigbo said.