Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has sacked the contractor, RAJCOM Construction Company, handling the construction of Iwoye-Owode road in Yewa South Area of the State over low pace of work on the road.
Besides,he issued a two week ultimatum to the Federal Government on the Sango/Ota-Abeokuta road, saying his administration will take over the road should the FG fails the two weeks ultimatum.
Abiodun,who announced the termination of the contract with RAJCOM during the inspection of the 25.4 Kilometres road, on Saturday,expressed regrets over the level of job done by the company and directed the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CECCC) to take over the reconstruction of the entire road.
He explained that as part of the efforts to hasten its reconstruction, the road was initially divided into two parts where Ilaro to Iwoye was allocated to Chinese engineering construction company, while the remaining half from Iwoye to Owode-Yewa, was also awarded to RAJCOM Construction Company.
He added that CECCC had succeeded in keeping to its promise by expediting action on its own part of the road, while RAJCOM had failed to live up to expectations.
Describing the road as important not only to the people of Yewaland, but the whole state, the governor assured that the Operations manager of the CECCC has promised that the asphalting of the road would commence in two weeks time in order to relief the people of harrowing experience of passing through on the road.
Speaking on the Sango/Ota-Abeokuta road, Abiodun said, the decision to take over the road become necessary after the Federal Government failed to take necessary action on the toad.
He said both Ogun and Lagos states had made frantic efforts several times to draw the attention of the Federal Government, through the office of the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, to the bad shape of the road without any positive response.
The governor who expressed worry over the hardship motorists are being subjected to on the road declared that his administration will not fold its arms and allow its citizenry to continue to suffer due to the negligence of the authority in charge of this road.
“If after two weeks, the Federal Government refuses to commence work on this road, I will take it over and reconstruct it”, he said.
The governor,who appealed to the people of the state, particularly those living along the road to be patient, also explained that the reason behind the inspection was to examine the level of infrastructural development in Ogun Central and Ogun West Senatorial Districts.
He observed that the road awarded to Julius Berger about 15 years ago had been abandoned making it impassable, saying that despite the various palliative being carried out on the road, some of the blue chip companies located along the road had failed to support the efforts of the government through its Corporate Social Responsiblity (CSR).
He assured that the state government would continue to prioritise the welfare of the people of the state in line with his promises during the last governorship campaign.
