Road construction: Delta reads riot act to erring contractors, field engineer

By MICHAEL OLADAPO, Asaba

Delta State Government on Tuesday read the riot act to erring contractors and field engineers involved in mitigating the construction of quality road projects across the state.

Speaking yesterday in Asaba, Commissioner of Works, Chief James Aguoye, said the warning became imperative due to the refusal of some contractors and field engineers to work in synergy with the Delta State Project Implementation, Evaluation and Monitoring Team.

He mentioned that the job of the Monitoring team is reduce excesses of erring contractors and field engineers, saying that the team was not created to extort any contractor.

Aguoye said, “The Governor feels that there is a need to have a body outside the Ministry to ensure proper supervision and ensure there is strict compliance with specifications given to contractors.

“Sometimes the field engineers compromise but when there is a body that is not in the Ministry of Works, everybody would sit up. These help to ensure jobs are done to specifications.”

While appealing with contractors to create synergy with the Monitoring team, he declared that any erring field engineer involved in sharp practices in the construction of projects would be sanctioned by the Ministry.

He noted that refusal of some contractors to work with the Monitoring team is due to refusal of their to comply with project specification.

Hence, he declared that contractors do not comply with the directive, jobs done would not be certified for payment.

“Clarification are necessary because if the project monitoring team find out that the projects are not executed to specifications, certifications will not be carried out on such a project.

We are hearing stories that some contractors say that, they would get certificates without working to specifications. That would not be possible” he asserted.

He recalled that the state government had earlier given contractors a defect liability period of two years to ensure the quality of road projects, saying that if there are failures on road project within this period, the contractor would go back to site on his own cost. (Daily Independent)