The Federal Government has accepted a letter from the Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) to discontinue the handling of the Enugu State’ 9th Mile corner-82 Division roundabout road construction.

The construction company, Daily Sun gathered, had been on the project since 2009 without any progress.

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, disclosed the development during a courtesy call on the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State on the sideline of the project development assessment in the South East.

Fashola said: “The area which is the 9th Mile side to 82 Division, I believe that the story out of there today when we inspected, is that we have found a solution that will be satisfactory to you finally.

“The contractor has asked to be relieved from further work there and we are approving that and we will be re-contracting that section to be rebuilt. So, in that respect, on behalf of the Federal Government, I bring you good news there.”

On the Enugu-Port Harcourt road, Fashola said compared to 2017 when he inspected the road, the contractor, the CGC, has made some progress, even as he said there was still room for improvement in the area.

Fashola assured the governor that the Federal Government will continue to hold the contractors accountable until the service that the state deserve and desire is delivered.

Fashola also inspected power project in the state and said in a matter of weeks when ongoing work would be completed, the Transmission Company of Nigeria would be able to increase power by another 70 megawatts to Enugu state, particularly to Enugu Distribution Company.

Fashola also looked at power issues in the state which resulted to resolutions passed by the Enugu State House of Assembly regarding lack of satisfaction to Enugu DISCO, including threats of court action.

He advised the governor that resolutions, quarrelling with Enugu DISCO or taking Enugu DISCO to court was really not the way to go.

“I do not advise it. That is my advice based on what I know. I made that advice for a couple of reasons, not the least which is the fact that Enugu DISCO was sold with only 60 percent sold to the private sector like all the other DISCOS.

“The owners of the remaining 40 percent are you and I; governments: federal, state and local government. So, it seems to me that the more we quarrel with that DISCO, the more we quarrel with ourselves.

“We are 40 percent shareholders of that company. Therefore, with respect, we have the responsibility to do everything to ensure we play our roles as shareholders to make that company work,” Fashola said.

He recommended that the state government should understand that they are part owners of the DISCOS.

Fashola also said there were 2000 megawatts of power yet to be distributed because there are not enough of transformers, light and breakers.

He urged the state government to partner with the DISCO to see where they can intervene in the business that is partly theirs.

On his part, Governor Ugwuanyi said there is certainly no gainsaying the hardship that the people of Enugu state and the entire South East region have suffered for so long on the account of the collapse of most federal roads in the area.

“The state of the roads have been of great concern to us as a people. Apart from the daily hazards that people have constantly been exposed to, it has also encouraged criminal activities and greatly impeded social economic development in the state and her environs,” Ugwuanyi said.

Ugwuanyi further said the state is encouraged by the steps being taken by the Federal Government to address the problems.

Earlier, Fashola inspected federal road road projects in Abia and Ebonyi State.

The road projects inspected were Lokpanta-Abia Tower in Abia State, Nenwe-Uduma Road in Ebonyi state being handled by Setraco Nigeria Limited respectively and the Amsea-9th Mile Corner Road being handled by Reynold Construction Company.

Fashola also inspected the National Housing Projects in Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu.

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