The people of Ozuitem in Bende council area of Abia state have decried the poor quality work being done by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) contractor Slok Holdings handling the Uzuakoli-Ozuitem, saying that there is need for an improvement.
Speaking on behalf of the community, Ikechi Njoku said that the people were very happy when the contractor started working on the road and that having seen the road that they are worried over the poor quality of work being done by the contractor.
Njoku said that his people who have being suffering over the poor standard of the road had expected that the road which has been bad for several years, when reconstruction starts would see the kind of road that would last for several years.
He said, “Before now I has been trying to access funds to work on this road as our people have suffered enough, but am happy when NDDC started work on the road, however we are not happy with the quality, as it not the type of job both the presidency and NDDC should do”.
“My people who are owners of the road need to know the terms of the contract, the length of the road, the amount quoted and how long it will take the contractor to finish the work, in fact there are many questions that we need answers for”.
“We are happy that the reconstruction of this all important road has commenced but at the same time we are worried with the quality of work being executed by the contractor, we need a better quality work to be done if this road is to last for a long time”.
Answering questions from newsmen if he is worried that the contractor is a local one, Njoku said that he is not quarreling with the contractor who is from the neighboring community as doing a quality work will also benefit him and his community.
He said, “I have no problems with the contractor handling the road as he is from the next community, I am a believer of local content and empowering the people but the company need to improve on the quality of the work they are doing on this road”.
Njoku said that the road which is being accessed by several communities in the Bende, Ohafia and Arochukwu local government areas is expected to witness heavy traffic during the Christmas period, “So there is need quality work to be done”.
In his own reaction Mba Adighibe noted that the project which is on going is already failing while erosion has started eating part of the road, stressing that the contractor Slok Holding need to look at the work they are doing in their own interest.
Adighibe said that when the work started that there was no sign post to show the people the name of the contractor handling the project, “But when we started asking questions we suddenly saw Slok sign post which was how we came to know the name of the contractor handling the road”.
He advised that the owners of the project which is NDDC should monitor the quality of work being executed by Slok the contractor at any level of the work for them to know if the project meets the stipulated standard they recommended for the work.
Reacting also Samuel Oti from Isiegbu Ozuitem said that the road so far done is not of good quality, “We are asking the NDDC to ask the contractor to come back to site immediately if they want to save their image”.
