LOKOJA – The Kogi State House of Assembly has condemed the state of roads in the state and mandated its committee on works to look into the remote causes of the poor delivery of road projects by contractors.
The house gave the mandate at Wednesday’s plenary after considering a motion by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Emmanuel Omebije.
The motion was calling on the state government to establish a laboratory for analysis of materials for projects.
Omebije said most roads in the state, and particularly in Lokoja metropolis, were in dire state of disrepair as they were dilapidated following poor quality materials used in constructing them.
He said that the state Ministry of Works had consigned the responsibility of testing the materials to contractors who capitalised on their ineptitude to deploy poor quality materials resulting in poor jobs.
Seconding the motion, the Minority Leader of the House, Mr Yori Afolabi, said because of the poor quality materials, patches hardly lasted 24 hours.
“When they patch today, tomorrow it is removed and they patch again.”
He said that the best way to ensure quality job was to establish a laboratory where the quality of materials would be ascertained before deployment.
He added that the ministry engineers must be tasked to ensure quality job.
In his contribution, Gabriel Daudu (PDP-Ogori-Magongo) said it was ironical that the roads mostly affected were those in the state capital.
He said that if established, the laboratory would carry out analysis of materials for use in constructions.
Henry Ojuola (APC-Yagba East), also supporting the motion, said it was a shame that the main township road in the state capital, from Nataco to Zango, had been allowed to deteriorate to the present state. [eap_ad_1] Saidu Akawu-Salihu (APC-Koton-Karfe), in his contribution, blamed the poor execution of public projects on non-implementation of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act.
He said that the implimentation of such act would have helped in procurement of quality materials.
Abidemi Adeyemi (APC-Yagba West), however, differed as he attributed the poor execution of road contracts and other projects to ” lack of genuine supervision and commitment.”
He said that with or without the laboratory, quality job could be guaranteed.
“It does not mean that we cannot have good roads because there is no lab. The materials could be tested in other labs, what is lacking is genuine supervision and commitment,” he said.
The Speaker, Alhaji Momoh-Jimoh Lawal, after due consideration of the submissions, committed the motion to the House Standing Committee on Works to investigate and submit its report within two weeks. (NAN)
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