CONTRACTORS in charge of constructing a major dual-carriage roadway in Ondo State have been warned by the state government that they may lose the contract if work on the project continues to witness a slow pace of progress.
The state commissioner for works, Mr. Gboye Adegbenro delivered the threat on behalf of the state government on Thursday, while on an inspection tour of the road projects in the state.
According to Mr. Adegbenro, the projects handled by Messrs Homan Nigeria Limited have seen a slow progress which could cause the construction firm the job if there is no improvement in delivering the work.
He said the state government was forced to terminate the Ondo town project being handled by the firm early in the year and re-awarded it to another firm.
He said that government had played its part well by paying all the contractors handling its various projects and that none of them had any excuse not to perform.
“The slow pace of work on the Akure-Obaile-Airport Road is worrisome and has been subjecting motorists to serious hardship and pains which, we believe, could be avoided if the contractors had showed enough seriousness.
“It was when the government could no longer condone the slow work of the contractor in Ondo town that it revoked its contract and awarded it to another firm, which is seriously working on it now.
“We understand that the firm is having management problems but we cannot fold our arms and watch our people suffer unnecessarily,” the commissioner said.
Adegbenro said the first phase of the Ondo, Arakale projects and others recently awarded by Gov. Olusegun Mimiko in various parts of the state, would be completed before February 2013.
He said the Mimiko administration inherited surface-dressed roads but decided to redesign them with asphalt because of the governor’s penchant for quality jobs.
He said the Oyemekun/Oba-Adesida/Arakale projects would be the best in the country by the time all necessary facilities such as modern bus shelters, streetlights, traffic lights and car-parks were installed.