Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, chairman, House of Representatives’ committee on works, says about 60 percent of the 300,000 kilometers federal roads nation-wide are in deplorable state.
Ozomgbachi, who made this revelation in Umuahia when he led the committee on a courtesy visit to Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State, regretted that many of such roads soon after construction starts failing as a result of poor quality job by the contractors.
The committee, which was on tour of federal roads in the South East, frowned at the sharp practices by some contractors, warning that such act if not checked would portend serious danger for the country.
Ozomgbachi vowed that his committee would spare no sacred cow in its bid to ensure that Nigerians get value for their taxes through federal roads, adding that all roads would be subjected to laboratory and other tests to authenticate their durability.
He noted with regret that some of the tests already carried out by the committee revealed that a road billed for 5cm tarring thickness only had 3cm and vowed that such contractors would be brought to book.
The committee also hinted that N20 billion has been set aside in the 2013 budget as refund to state governments which undertook the rehabilitation of federal roads in their domain.
According to Ozomgbachi, over N1 billion spent by Abia State government for the dualisation of Ossah/Umuahia federal road has been given presidential approval, and would soon been released to the state.
Responding, Governor Orji thanked the committee for the visit and expressed confidence in the composition of its membership.
The governor decried the deplorable state of roads in the South East region which he attributed to the devastating effects of the civil war due to heavy bombardments as the region served as a theatre of war.
UDOKA AGWU, Umuahia
