The Member representing Aninri/Agwu/Oji River Federal Constituency, Chief Anayo Onwuegbu, has called on the Federal Ministry of Works to immediately extract Irrevocable commitment from the contractor handling the Enugu-Onitsha Dual Carriageway on the timeline for the project completion.
Onwuegbu made the call while speaking to journalists after the meeting between Federal Lawmakers from Enugu and Anambra States; Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi; and the contractor MTN Nigeria in Abuja. The meeting which lasted for over an hour had 16 Federal Lawmakers from Anambra and Enugu State in attendance.
Onwuegbu explained that the project is captured under Tax Credit Scheme between Federal Government and MTN group. “This means that MTN was expected to fund the project 100 per cent and deduct from tax. Unfortunately, the company has shown that it lacks capacity to deliver at the stipulated time.
“So, they are stalling, and our people are dying. I urge the Minister to force MTN to complete this project on record time or have it terminated,” he said. Onwuegbu also asked how many people would die on the Ugwu-Onyeama section of the road before something drastic was done?
He urged his colleagues in the national assembly to follow up on the construction of the second lane of the dual carriageway especially the Ugwu-Onyeama axis, which is problematic.
Earlier in the meeting, the Leader of the group, Sen. Osita Ngwu, said that the meeting was initiated to ascertain the challenges the Federal Government and MTN Nigeria were having in completing the dual carriageway which has claimed many lives and destroyed goods worth millions of naira.
Ngwu said that the entire South-East was concerned over the dangerous delay in completing the second lane of the road. Responding, the Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi, said MTN Nigeria was playing politics with the project and the Federal Government was tired of such politics.
Umahi insists that “MTN must tell us here if they will complete this road within the next 11 months as captured in the agreement. I can tell you (MTN Nigeria) for free that after this meeting, I shall write a letter of commitment to your office (MTN). Your company either commits to the project or we have it terminated and re-awarded.”
