Contractors executing projects at the Polytechnic site in Bomadi are begging Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State to fix the access road leading to the institution to ease the execution of ongoing projects.
Our correspondent gathered that the condition of the ever-busy access road had worsened as a result of the sand-laden heavy trucks plying it daily.
The road is said to have been aggravated by frequent rainfall in the riverine axis of the state, a situation that has further made the muddy road near inaccessible to users.
Chairman of Bomadi Sand Contractors Association, Mr Eyerindideke Macauley, disclosed that the major problem contractors were faced with in respect of the polytechnic project was the terrible state of the access road.
Macauley, who is a sand contractor of the project, urged government to speed up the award of the contract on the road to the major contractor of the project.
“The Bomadi Poly Project is actually ongoing and I believe the state government is committed to the project.
“The major problem is the access road to the project site; it is in a very bad state and we find it difficult to move in sand and other materials to site.
“I want the state government to speedily award a contract on the road to ease us of our challenges.
I want to also appeal that government should release fund to the major contractor to enable us get paid because we have been owed a lot,” he pleaded.
A carpentry engineer with the Bridge Site Nigeria Limited, a contracting firm handling the Bomadi Polytechnic project, Engr Nweke Joseph, in response to the state of work on the project, said “the polytechnic project is ongoing.”
According to him, “The main challenge contractors are facing now is the access road which is in a very bad state.
“As a result of this, we cannot bring equipment to the site.
“If government can award a contract on the road, it would help speed up the job.”
Another engineer of the company, who gave his name as Peter Felix, said, “It is not that the project is not ongoing as alleged by some people, but we have a major challenge regarding the access road to the site.
The road is very bad and we find it difficult to move in equipment and materials.
We want to move in trucks, excavator, backhoe, and other contractors also want to move in materials such as rods, cement, BRC, granite and others.
If I may appeal, government should also assign the access road contract to the company to make work easy for all.
As you can see that we are working, and we are doing casting on the DPC here while sand filling job is still ongoing.”
Meanwhile, an overwhelmed former Community Development Committee chairman of Bomadi town, Mr Dambulu E. Accra, disclosed that the Ijaw nation would queue Gov Okowa come 2019 if he completes the polytechnic project at Bomadi.
He noted that the Ijaw are educational backward and completion of the project would encourage youths to go to school in the riverine area.
“Okowa should hasten up the poly project because we are educationally backward.
In fact, with this polytechnic alone, Ijaw in this area will go a long way. The less-privileged are in the eyes of God and if Okowa can finish this project, Ijaw nation will queue behind him as usual in 2019,” he averred.
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