The Federal Government has expressed disapproval of the palliative works on the 34-kilometre Ikorodu-Itokin road and ordered the contractor to mobilise back to the site or risk arrest.
Minister of Works, David Umahi, disclosed this during his ongoing inspection of Federal Government projects in Lagos.
The Minister, who had already visited the 78-kilometre Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta Expressway and the Lagos-Badagry-Seme Border highway, also known as the ECOWAS Road, frowned at the level of work done by the contractor, Geld Construction Ltd, as palliatives and asked them to return to the site.
Umahi also directed the contractor to come up with the cost implication of the new design, which is going to be much cheaper and more durable than what they are doing.
He said, “It’s a better design, and it’s a professional design.”
He, however, warned that if, by Monday, the contractor fails to resume, he will hand the matter over to security agencies.
He said: “I can’t remember how long the contractor has been on the project, but we have had funding challenges.
“But with the little we have, the contractor says he’ll use it to do palliatives. We disagree with him on the volume of palliatives he says he’s doing. He has to return the money to active construction. He has demobilised from the site—that’s a breach of contract.
“We are giving him 24 hours to return to the site. We’ve done appreciable funding. The President is very much interested in this route. He has directed that we should complete this route. (Guardian)