Kogi Assembly Works Committee sad over Idah-Ibaji Road condition

The Kogi State House of Assembly Chairman of Committee on Works and Transport, Hon Atule Christopher Okocha, has described the present Idah-Ibaji road as pathetic.

The committee which was on an assessment tour of the road was not happy with the pace of work by the contractor handling the project.

The road which was washed by last year’s flood is worsened by this year’s rain as portions of the road have been further damaged giving room for water to accumulate in the affected areas.

The Kogi State Government has awarded contract for the rehabilitation of the road to ameliorate the suffering of the people. However, work on the road is moving at slow pace making movement difficult now that the rain is approaching its peak

As a result, the state house of assembly committee on works and transport embarked on an assessment visit.

In an interactive session with the contractor, Mr Daher Kaworma and site engineer, Chris Ekele, the contractor told the committee that due to the nature of Ibaji land, road construction is not possible during this period.

“When we were mobilized in April, I told the state government that work commencement on the road will not be feasible because of the nature of Ibaji road”. He said after pressure, they succeeded in constructing the first bridge and shortly after, persistent heavy rainfall set in making it difficult for their heavy equipment to move on the muddy and slippery land of Ibaji. He added that work will commence as soon as the rain subsides.

Appealing to the committee members to prevail on the contractor to provide literate to fill up some bad portions, pending when the situation permit for the road construction, the chairman Ibaji Local Government Area, David Ogwu, stated that the council embarked on manual construction of the road since it could not reach the contractor for dialogue.

It will be recalled that due to the urgent need to make the road passable, the state government released the sum of one hundred and nineteen million naira out of the contract sum of two hundred and thirty-nine million naira.

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