Delta Govt. weighed down by debt, Suspends New Contracts

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Local contractors handling road construction projects in Delta State are being owed contract money running into hundreds of millions of naira buy the state government.

The state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan who made this disclosure, said the government has suspended the award of fresh contracts on road construction pending when all existing contracts have been completed.

Uduaghan while addressing contractors handling road and drainage projects in the state, told the contractors that his administration was indebted to contractors and the only way to pay them fully was to suspend the award of new contracts, adding that the suspension of new contracts would enable his government concentrate and complete all ongoing road and drainage projects.

While assuring the contractors of payment of all outstanding arrears within the next two month, the governor enjoined the contractors to mobilize to site once the rains were over and complete their contracts before the end of December, just as he urged them to work day and night and complete their projects so that Deltans would enjoy good roads, warning that he would not entertain further delay, especially as he had promised to adequately fund the projects.

“We have suspended new contracts and we will start paying contractors within the next two months. You should therefore mobilize to site once the rains are over and complete your jobs. There should be no excuses.”

The governor cautioned the contractors against the submission of letters for variation stressing that it was the antics used by the contractors to increase the value of their contracts.

Dr. Uduaghan warned against such antics explaining that any variation made on a contract which was not more than one year would not be entertained.

“I find that contractors are always submitting variation every time and even on contracts that are not up to a year. This is not acceptable because if they did not like the contract value they should not have accepted the contract in the first place,” he said.

The Governor, who admonished those who often abandon their projects only to reappear with variation to either accept contracts as awarded or reject it at the initial stage.

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Dr. Uduaghan who explained that the issue of variation often disorganized the budget said “variation is unfair because budgets are planned and acceptance of variation on new projects will not do the state any good. So contractors should either accept contract as it is or reject them from the onset.”

In his remarks, the Commissioner for Works Chief Funkekeme Solomon said his ministry has been reorganized to ensure efficient service delivery.

Chief Solomon said some of the lapses observed in the past had been corrected to ensure that certificates submitted by contractors for payment were promptly processed. He however enjoined the contractors to work to specification and complete their jobs on schedule.

Some of the contractors who spoke appealed to the governor to intervene in the processing of the certificates of job completed as there were unnecessarily delayed.

Meanwhile, Delta state government has vowed to improve on the road network in major cities of the state by December this year.

The state Commissioner for Information, Barrister Chike Ogeah who announced this yesterday while fielding questions from newsmen in Asaba explained that the state government was committed to ensuring the quick completion of road projects in the state.

He observed that the governor’s meeting with contractors in the state was to identify the challenges faced by the contractors in executing their projects.

“The governor met with the contractors to ascertain the challenges they face and to resolve issues surrounding the quick delivery of major road projects in the state,” Ogeah said.

By Jethro Ibileke, Benin

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