..Announces construction of 260 warehouses, reward for outstanding contractors
Enugu State Governor, Dr Peter Mbah, Thursday, met with contractors handling the construction of 260 Smart Green schools and 260 Type 2 Primary Health Care Centers across the state to understand their challenges and areas of intervention, announcing construction of 260 warehouses across the 260 political wards in the state, as well as reward for outstanding contractors handling the state’s projects..
He said the timelines given for the completion of the projects were sacrosanct as the state Government was not owing any of the contractors handling the projects. He added that the state Government would not condone delay or lateness in the delivery timelines of all the projects.
Governor Mbah disclosed that his administration was already setting up mechanism for the rewards and recognition of contractors who had distinguished themselves in terms of quality and speedy delivery of their project. He promised that more contracts would be awarded to them for their capacity and commitment.
Pix: Gov Mbah
Governor Mbah expressed dissatisfaction with some of the contractors who blamed the rainy season, rough topography, shortage of manpower and logistics constraints as some of the challenges that resulted in their delays, directing them to source for more hands in order to meet the delivery dates.
According to him, the state Government had already earmarked enough funds for all the projects, assuring that payments would continue to be made at the right time to contractors.
“Let me once again reiterate that you have our support, and we’ll continue to make funds available to you. Once you are able to raise your certificate, you will be paid within five days because we’ve no reason to hold on to your money. So, for us money is not a problem. We gave you these projects because you have the capacity to deliver,” he said.
Pix: The stakeholders
Mbah explained that his administration had previously intervened in areas of variation of costs because of inflation, stressing that such intervention was designed to serve as motivation for quality job and speedy delivery.
He warned that the administration would not entertain sabotage, cost overruns and time overruns as all contractors were fully mobilized except those having issues with their advance payment guarantee who were paid as soon as they rectified it.
The Governor maintained that the most important focus of his administration was to ensure that all children in the state, including those living in remote and rural areas had access to the type of education any child could be exposed to in the world that would equip them for the future challenges.
He added that the PHCs, which should be delivered before the end of December 2024, were carefully conceived to eliminate infant and maternal as well as under-five mortalities, which he described as unacceptable.
On their parts, contractors working across the three senatorial zones commended the Governor for promoting local contents, saying that the initiative had created thousands of both skilled and unskilled jobs in the private sector.
Speaking on behalf of the contractors, Engr. Chukwudi Nwankwo and Steve Oruruo pledged that they would deliver in time, even as they underscored that some of them were already at the completion stage.
They extolled the governor for making funds available to them, saying that they had no excuse not to honour their own terms of the contracts by delivering on the agreed dates.
Speaking with newsmen, the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engr. Gerald Otiji said he was impressed with some contractors who had met the timeline and frowned at some who were lagging behind.
Pix: Commissioned for Work’s and Infrastructure, Engr. Gerald Otiji
Throwing more light on the construction of 260 warehouses, Engr. Otiji said the warehouses will be constructed to serve the farm estates that will be built across 260 political wards of the state. He said the farm estates will have warehouses and storage facilities for farm produce . ” “There are other things that will be there. The storage facility is to have a no post harvest losses of agro- produce “, Otiji said.
Pix: Commissioner for Education, Prof Ndubueze Mbah
Speaking, Commissioner for Education , Professor Ndubueze Mbah said the meeting was not only to understand the challenges the contractors were faced with, it was also to let them know they were also partners .
“His Excellency wanted to understand what challenges, if any, that the contractors may be having collectively or individually, that may affect their timeline of delivering the project and to ensure that on the part of the state government ,all the resources were available to these contractors to ensure the quality and timeline of the projects that they had agreed to deliver .
“The Governor personally invested in making sure that these projects were delivered on time. His Excellency had also assured the contractors that those who are able to deliver will be given more jobs. This is really encouraging , reassuring, and reaffirming session”, he said..
Professor Mbah assured that ” by February 2025 all the Smart schools in Enugu state would be delivered and between February and September we would have furnished them , equipped them and posted our teachers and enroll our children ,so, by September 2025 as His Eyes has promised ndi Enugu all the Smart schools would be fully operational, he said.
Pix: Dr. Sigi Ogundele
Speaking, Dr Sigi Ogundele, Group Managing Director, Sigi motors holdings, Construction Company expressed delight about the260 Smart Green schools and 260 Type 2 Primary Health Care Centers being constructed across the state.
Dr. Ogundele , said he was leading 57 Engineers in the project to make sure the projects were accomplished. He added that Governor Mbah had the desire to give the ‘have nots’ education so that they could be leaders of tomorrow.
” So far, the Government had been very supportive . I have never seen any kind of Government that dealt directly with over 300 Engineers or contractors We are partners. We are stakeholders. We are partners in this project of Enugu Smart Green schools. The idea behind is to give dividends of democracy to the have nots I am leading this project , am making sure that we exceed Government ‘ s expectation.
Pix: Steve Orurua
In an interview, a stakeholder, Steve Orurua, commended Governor Mbah for caring for the masses. He said the Governor remembered the “downtrodden” and was executing projects that will touch their lives.. Orurua assured that they will complete the projects because their children will benefit from them.
Pix: Engr. Prince Ugochukwu Nnaji
On his part, a Contractor, Engr Prince Ugochukwu Nnaji, of Atakata Groups also thanked Governor Mbah for executing laudable projects that everybody in the state will benefit from. He also thanked the Governor for holding the meeting.
Prince Nnaji noted that the meeting afforded the contractors the opportunity to interact with the Governor and made their challenges known to him.
He applauded Governor Mbah for prompt payment,,saying they had no problem with their payments. He assured that they were going to deliver the projects at the agreed time.
Other contractors who spoke with newsmen included Uso Nwobodo and Engr Nwadikigwe Alexande, r also commended Governor Mbah for his good works in the state.They promised to complete their projects on record time.
Author: Maureen Ikpeama