Akwa Ibom State governor, Pastor Umo Eno, has terminated controversial contracts on some failed road projects awarded by his predecessors including former Governors Godswill Akpabio and Udom Emmanuel, and directed the Commissioner for Works and Fire Service, Prof. Eno Ibanga, to evaluate job done so far with a view to compelling the contractors to refund the balance.
Speaking during a media briefing to mark his one year in office, the governor explained that there were lots of discrepancies, including incompetence of the contractors, hence the State government took the decision to terminate the contracts.
He listed the affected projects to include Nsit Atai-Oron road; Ndon Eyo road in Onna LGA, and two others, awarded over the years by successive state governments before the current administration.
He said: “I have to say things the way it is without mincing words. The Nsit Atai – Oron road contract is terminated.
The project is delayed because the contractor never showed competence in handling the road. We have to terminate it and others.
“We will engage our valuers to quantify what they have done so far. We also request that they return our money at the end.”
The governor, while fielding questions from journalists at the media briefing, invited the Commissioner for Works, Prof. Ibianga, to brief journalists on progress of work done on the ongoing road contracts in the state, including the popular ‘China Market’ in Eket LGA, awarded by the immediate-past Governor Udom Emmanuel.
Eno recalled that the 30 per cent of government funds committed on the ‘China Market’ project in Eket would have gone a long way to complete the entire project before the COVID-19 pandemic, even as he expressed anger that the Chinese firm handling the project had disappeared and refused to return to site.
Umo said: “I have studied the legal provisions in the contract and had been fully briefed that it never favoured the government. But you can’t terminate the ‘China Market’ contract because of the legal implications.
“The Chinese contractors have deliberately refused to return to site. Maybe they are trying to ambush us based on the legal provisions, but we would soon call for review of the contract terms and take a decision.”
Reeling out his achievements in the last one year at the Uyo Township Stadium on Wednesday, Eno gave himself a pass mark in virtually all the sectors of the State’s economy including infrastructure, education, health, agriculture, security, power, and human capital development as encapsulated in his administration’s ‘ARISE Agenda’.
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