Hope Rises For East-West Road As Work Begins Soon …Eleme LG Boss Engages Fashola, RCC, Others

The lingering uncertainties surrounding the commencement of work on the Elemeaxis of the East-West Road would soon be a foregone issue following a recent engagement between the Chairman of Eleme Local Government Area Council, Chief Obarilomate Ollor; Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola; and the Managing Director/CEO of Reynolds Construction Company Nigeria Limited (RCC), Engr. Nader Yusuf in Abuja.
Ollor, who expressed disappointment over the negligence on the part of the Federal Government and the lingering uncertainties surrounding the commencement of work on the dilapidated section of the East-West Road, insisted on the immediate deployment of the contractor to site to ease the suffering of road users.
He asked why a significant project of that magnitude was still being delayed after it had been transferred from Niger Delta Ministry to Ministry of Works, even as President Muhammadu Buhari had directed the NNPC to assign funding to the project.
In his response, the Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, called for calm, noting that there were more prospects for the East-West Road despite the delay.
He assured the chairman of Federal Government’s commitment to a lasting solution as further reviews have been done to include 15kilometers drainage on both sides of the road and the addition of more lanes.
Fashola expressed hope that Federal Executive Council, in a short while, would make necessary approvals for the commencement of work.
This, according to him, was to avoid a repeat of what transpired previously when the contractor was mobilised to site but later pulled out.
According to him, the necessary paperwork are ready, and will be presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval so that the contractor can move to site for both palliative and full-scale work to commence, respectively.
He stated that the idea behind the palliative work was to make the road passable, ease the suffering of road users, and reduce the influx of vehicles through the communities while full-scale work would be ongoing.
Ollor also extended his engagement to the head office of Reynolds Construction Company Nigeria Limited (RCC) in Abuja.
He was received by the Managing Director/CEO, Engr. Nader Yusuf, who assured Ollor of his readiness to mobilise his team to site as soon as he gets the needed attention from the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.
Those present at the meeting include: the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola; Minister of State for Works, Umar el-Yakub; Ag Permanent Secretary, Engr Uzor; Director, Construction and Rehabilitation, Engr. Esan.