Umahi Sets Two-Year Deadline for Road Contractors to Finish Projects

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, said President Bola Tinubu has directed that all road projects in the country must be completed within two years.

Umahi disclosed this to road contractors on Wednesday when he led a delegation of some officials of the ministry to the scene of the tanker fire in Eleme, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, saying, “It’s in line with the policy of Mr. President that contractors will not stay beyond two years on any road project and that’s what we are making sure – that it happens, but not on coastal roads.”

Five people were confirmed dead and over 70 cars burnt in the tanker explosion at the Eleme section of the East-West Road in Rivers State late Friday.

While he sympathised with the state government and the families of the victims, Umahi cautioned some persons who blamed the Federal Government and the road contractor for the accident that led to the tanker explosion.

Umahi said, “When somebody is dead, we are not talking about who is right or who is wrong because no loss can be recovered. But one funny person who says he is the President of the Ogoni group or whatever made a very careless and inciting statement.

“There is a bridge there that we are reconstructing and they were very large, over 16 metres wide of a diversion we made in the past year and that’s where vehicles are following, and he made a very nasty statement trying to blame the construction company and blame the Federal Government for the accident.”

Umahi noted that upon Tinubu’s assumption of office, the President ordered the redesign of the road.

The minister said, “Apart from Warri to Benin and parts of Lokoja, there is no other section of the road in this country where this kind of construction is going on.

“The 15 kilometres road dualised for six lanes is about the heaviest traffic road in the country. And because the soil is bad, we are digging about one metre. We are filling with lumps about half a metre, we are filling with sharp sand about half a metre, and we are filling with a stone base eight inches.”