Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, has described as unacceptable the poor Federal Government presence in the State.

Governor Amaechi represented by his Deputy, Engr Tele Ikuru, said despite the state contributing over 40 per cent of the accruable revenue to the federal coffers, the state had in the past 30 years not seen any new federal project. He noted that even those that were on-going had seemingly been abandoned or work on them going at very slow pace.

Making the remarks during the inspection of on-going work on some federal projects in the state alongside the Minister of Works, Senator Mohammed Sanusi Dagash, Amaechi cited the Bomu-Bonny Road as one of those projects that had made Rivers people think that they had been forgotten by the Federal Government.

He explained that the foundation stone of the road project was laid by former Military president, General Ibrahim Babangida in 1986, and that it was not until 2002 when former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration commenced work on it, stating that the work had been at its elementary stage since then.

In his remarks, the Mminister of Works who was on official tour of the federal roads in the state, disclosed that under President Goodluck Jonathan, there was a new momentum, as the Bomu/Bonny Road had now been placed on Federal Government priority list.

Senator Dagash said that the Federal Government was committed to ensuring that the project was completed by the present administration, “marking it as special”, and called on the construction company handling the project, Gitto Construction Generalli Nigeria Limited to step up action on the job as money would be released to it according to its commitment.

Earlier, the Managing Director of Gitto Construction Generalli Nigeria Limited, Mr Domenico Gitto, said that the company’s greatest challenge on the job was its funding, stating that money was not released to them at the time they commenced work in 2002 until two years later.

He noted that the delay on the road was due to the fact that the design handed over to them was faulty, leading to their decision to re-design the project, adding that frequent communal clashes and militancy in the area also contributed to the slow pace of work.

Mr Gitto, however, promised that, with proper funding in the present peaceful environment which was being experienced, work on the project would be fast-tracked.

Prof. Ginson Osai, the External Public Relations Officer of the company appealed to the Federal Government to ensure that the tripartite agreement reached at the Senate on the project was implemented.