RCC Defies Umahi, Yet To Return To East West Road

Reynolds Construction Company Limited (RCC), the contractor reconstructing the Eleme axis of the East – West road has not resumed work more than one week after the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi ordered it back to site.
While on a visit to Rivers State recently, the Minister of Works had given RCC a seven-day ultimatum to remobilize on site almost one month after the contractor suspended work on the project.
But by last Wednesday, there was no sign of men and materials of the company at any point of the project sites from Eleme Junction on the Port Harcourt – Aba expressway to Trailer Park off the Onne Port Complex.
RCC began to wind up operations on the project after a fire incident at the gate of Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited Complex killed an unspecified number of people and burnt about a hundred vehicles on April 26. Close company sources said the company complained of a slack in the funding of the project and moved out of site to avoid incurring further costs when it is not certain that the Federal Government could continue funding.
Umahi was angry that the contractors had not completed even one kilometre of the 15 kilometres stretch of the road. He disclosed that the Federal Government had released N40 billion to the contractors and they had no reason to complain.
Umahi said, “We are very sad with the manners and behaviours of this contractor, RCC. The federal government has paid over 40 billion on this project, and not even one kilometer has been completed,” according to a statement on the website of the ministry.
The statement however stated that the excuse the company gave was that it needed to import some equipment to operate with at the site.
Expressing concern over the hardship faced by road users, Umahi stressed that no request for price variation from the contractor would be entertained because the contract did not provide for any such variation.
He threatened to terminate the contract if RCC failed to return to site. National Point was at the sites and noticed that no work was going by the contractors at all the sites.
Work on the reconstruction of the Eleme section of the road started in October 2023 after the Federal Government released the sum of N33 billion to RCC. The work started at Trailer Park Junction after properties on the right of way of the project were demolished from Trailer Park Junction up to Refinery Junction.
The contractor concentrated work on the side of the dual carriage road, excavating and refilling it with hardcore, sharp sand and pulverized granite. That has stretched from Trailer park to a little after the Okulu River. Included in the project are three flyovers at Trailer park, Refinery Junction and Okulu River at Aleto.
The reconstruction of the Eleme axis of the East – West road had been a hot topic for more than 20 years now after that section began to fail due to the heavy traffic using it. The section services the heavy industries in the Eleme and Onne industrial hubs, which have two refineries, the Onne Port Complex, the Oil and Gas Free Zone, the Petrochemicals and Fertiliser industries at Nchia and Onne and many ancillary industries in the area. The road also leads to Akwa Ibom, Cross River and some local government areas in Rivers State.
The bad state of the road has subjected motorists and commuters to untold suffering. Many lives have been lost in accidents, motorists speak of damage to their vehicles, while property of value have also been lost to the accidents and traffic crisis on the road.