………VARIATION OF CONTRACTS  MAY  AFFECT PROJECTS

Isaac  Money  –Yenagoa

Still basking in the euphoria of  his second tenure  in office , Governor Douye Diri  is poised to wave a new look  on Yenagoa, the sprawling  capital of  Bayelsa state .

To this effect , several roads linking the state capital are to be completed in no distant time as arrangements are on top gear to mobilise construction giant , Julius Berger Nigeria plc  to commence work .

Surv.  Moses Teibowei, the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure  who responded to questions from. members of the Federated Correspondents Chapel (FCC) NUJ after a fact finding tour by members  on Thursday disclosed that the roads include the completion of the dual carriage road linking Opolo Community in Yenagoa Local Government Area to Elebele Community in Ogbia Local Government Area, the construction of the Gloryland Drive Phase III, which is designed to link the Tombia-Amassoma road to a bridge at Imgbi Junction, Amarata, in the state capital.

Others include the construction of  the Gloryland Drive Phase III

to  connect  the East-West road to the Yenagoa-Oporoma road in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state.

Represented by Dr. Johnson Dagana,Permanent Secretary ministry of Works, Teibowei says connecting the various roads would  ease transportation of goods and services between Yenagoa metropolis and neighbouring communities.

He however disclosed  that  some of the roads may be affected by limited funds as  single carriage would be constructed in some areas that are for double carriage way.

According to him,  the government considers the Gloryland Drive Phase III to be important because of the significant role it will play in connecting commuters from the East-West road to the Yenagoa-Oporoma road in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state.

He also gave an update on the multi billion  naira Nembe- Brass road , saying the government has completed the sand filling and stabilization of

about 16 kilometers  of the  road, adding that the contractor has commenced work on the first bridge on the Nembe axis, while some culvert work have been completed on the first phase of the 21 kilometer road .

The commissioner enumerated some.challenges being encountered in the course of  constructing  the road and other projects  which included the increase in price of building materials following the  adverse changes in the economy of  nigeria .

The development , he added,  has affected the bill  of quantity for projects prepared by the government, saying that most of the roads earmarked for construction are currently undergoing variation and that the expectation of government to engage in new contracts has been limited.

His words :  “The Opolo to Elebele road,  is actually been handled by Julius Berger and as I speak with you, we have invited Julius Berger for a meeting tomorrow with a view of mobilizing them back to site.

“That is why the meeting is being called and we believe that after tomorrow’s  meeting they will go back to site to complete that project.

“It is the entire job they are going to do. Right from Opolo by the market, that is where the road starts from. We will keep on working from that angle.

” The first time they came, they left because of the elections. Now that we are back and election is over, this time we are back to for governance and of course government is to ensure that infrastructural development that will affect the lives of the people are put in place.

“The Nembe – Brass road we have so far,

presently we have done completely the sand filling of the entire stretch of the road and we have done some level of stabilization and of course, they are to commence the first bridge on the Nembe axis.

“We have sand filled about 16 kilometers and some part of the culvert work have been completed. They are on site for the first bridge.

“Over the times, considering the changes in the economy of the nation, it has affected the prices of building materials and every other thing even food items. Obviously, the bill of quantity because they work with the bill of quantity that have been prepared. Most of these roads, they bill of quantity have been prepared earlier before now and when things like this come up, definitely there will be need for variation as a result of hike in prices of building materials in the market.

“It has affected the projects because the expectation of  government  is to also engage in new contracts and the inflation has made government to limit it to the existing ones.

“We cannpot be able to engage new ones because we need to have money to also take care of the variation that is taking place. We can not be able to engage new contracts for now.

“The reason why the state government is trying to do a single dual carriage road now is for the fact that it has to ration income in a way that we can be able to tackle other projects. That is the best decision that the state government has taken.

“As it is now, we have made it in a way that single carriage way should be handled because of the limited resources that is available so that other projects can go on. Now that we have been able to complete that one, government will look into it and before the end of this year, it will take up the other carriage.”