NAN-H-33
Dam
By Alex Enebeli
Mpu (Enugu State), Nov. 23, 2016 (NAN) A team of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) monitoring federal projects in Enugu State has been jolted over the shoddy work carried out at the N7.9 billion Ivo Dam project at Mpu in Enugu State.
The dam was sited at Mpu in the Aninri Local Government Area, to generate water for communities in the area as well for communities in the neighbouring Ebonyi.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that communities in Aninri Local Government Area have no access to portable water over the years.
The area was also guinea worm endemic until the Jimmy Carter Foundation came to the rescue a few years ago.
The building of the Ivo Dam was assigned to an indigenous company, Anbeez Service Ltd. since 2009.
The FRC team was disappointed when it discovered that only 60 per cent work had been carried out at the site, in spite of the huge amount spent so far on the project.
It was also discovered that the spillway structure of the dam had collapsed, exposing the weakness of the entire structure.
The leader of the FRC team, Mr Sampson Eletno, blamed the collapse of the structure on
the failure of the contractor to use specified and approved materials.
He told the contractor to rectify the anomalies before the next visit of the FRC, pointing out that the team would be visiting again to ensure a good job.
“This is not a threat but the contractor will be arrested if the error is not corrected when the commission visits again.”
Eletno warned the contractor against using fake materials in executing the multi-billion-naira project, pointing out that doing shoddy work could result to tragedy.
The team leader, however, lauded Setraco Nigeria Ltd. for the quality of its work on the Oji-Achi, Mmaku-Awgu, Ndiagbor-Mpu-Akaeze and Isiagu roads even when government had not paid for the work.
Eletno, however, appealed to the Federal Government to ensure that the project was captured in the 2017 budget to ensure payment of the contractor.
He berated Arab Contractors for abandoning the Ozalla-Akpugo-Amagunze road.
“Very soon our people will be coming home for Christmas and we do not want this road to be a nightmare for them,” the team leader stated.
The Site Engineer of Anbeez Services, Mr Chijoke Ogbonna, blamed heavy rainfall for the collapse of the base structure of the Ivo Dam, assuring that lapses would be corrected.
“It is better that the error occurred now so that we take corrections,” he said.
Ogbonna said that the dam would be ready for inauguration next June.
Similarly, the Deputy Manager of Arab Contractors Ltd., Mr Hassan Kassem, said the company would return to work as soon as money was paid to the company.
He said that government owed the company to the tune of over one billion naira. (NAN)
AAE/MNA/SN
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Edited by Maureen Atuonwu/Silas Nwoha