East-West Road Project At Eleme Abandoned

Some stakeholders have raised concern over the stoppage of work on the Eleme axis of the East-West road in Rivers State.
The flurry of activities that was noticed on the road since November last year when the contractors, RCC Limited mobilized to site suddenly began to slow down after the fire disaster in April on the Indorama section of the road that claimed many lives and burnt more than 100 vehicles.
Investigation by National Point showed that work on all the sites of the project completely ground to a halt by Monday June 4, when workers at the Refinery Junction and Aleto River sites of two of the proposed flyovers were seen demobilizing equipment from the sites.
By Tuesday, the entire stretch running from Trailer Park Junction leading to Onne Port complex and ending just in front of the NNPC Housing Estate near Akpajo Junction had been abandoned.
No official reason has been given for the abandonment of the project, but one of the workers of RCC at its base at Eteo told National Point that it had to do with funding of the project. None of the management staff of the company at the base was willing to talk on the state of the project.
After many years of protests and agitation by road users, communities, industrial concerns on that axis of the road, the Federal Government finally mobilized RCC (Reynolds Construction Company) Limited to site with the payment of N33 billion as mobilization fee.
The Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, who flagged off the project in October, had promised that the project would not be abandoned because the Federal Government was committed to it. He had to personally visit sites of the project several times to ensure that the project was executed to specifications.
So far, the contractor has worked on one side of the dual-carriage road from trailer Park to NNPC Estate, a distance of about 11 kilometres. The extent of work had been excavation, laying of base, sharp sand and scarified stone. Concrete overlay had started from Trailer Park junction before work began to slow down.
On the night of Friday, April 26th, an accident involving a truck conveying fertilizer from Indorama and a petrol tanker sparked a fire that consumed several lives and more than 100 vehicles during a traffic jam a portion of the road where RCC was working on the site. Many people believed the accident could have been averted if RCC had not clogged the road.
With the abandonment of the project, some stakeholders have spoken out expressing fears that things might get rougher on the road for motorists and other road users.
Tonye Ekong, a journalist, wondered what the Minister of Works was doing about the road after making so much hype about the road. Another road user, Mr. Igwe Abbey said it was clear that the Federal Government had refused to release more money to fund the project.
The Chairman of Eleme Local Government, Chief Obarilomate Ollor, who was in the forefront of protests for the Federal Government to award contract for the reconstruction of the road, said he would take it up with the Minister.