Ikpoba Hill Youths Dissatisfied With Palliative Work On Benin-Agbor Road--- Asks contractor to cover dangerous potholes, remove Sand encroachment ...we will not fail to do whatever is within our scope of contract- Iweka

The Chairman of Ikpoba Hill Youths Association, Comrade Kingsley Osemwingie, has expressed displeasure over the quality of road palliative rehabilitation work being done by Sermatec Nigeria limited along the Benin-Agbor road in Ikpoba Okha local government area in Edo state.

Speaking with the News crew who visited the work site, the chairman of Ikpoba Hill Youths Association, Comrade Kingsley Osemwingie who was at the site to see the ongoing rehabilitation efforts, registered his displeasure with the quality of palliative job executed by the contractor handling the rehabilitation works.

According to him," this job is not being done well because as you can see that they are jumping over failed portions and potholes unattended while they are patching some other portions thereby leaving very many portions not rehabilitated and if that is how they are going to go about the rehabilitation, it would certainly end up a shoddy job which can not stand the test of time as those potholes will sooner than later deteriorate as soon as the rain starts thereby worsening the road condition and subsequently making life unbearable for residents and other road users .

" I want to say that what we are seeing now wasn't what the Honourable Minister of Works told us when he visited to inspect the extent of damage on the road. He told us that the government would do a comprehensive palliative on the road which would last for a reasonable period of time before a comprehensive and total reconstruction work would be done on the road but what we are seeing now is a far cry from that promise.

He further added that even if the terms of engagement by the government and the contractor was palliative, it should encompass complete palliative work not a shoddy and half hazard job where several potholes and failed portions are neglected adding that the repairs of those potholes and diches should form the bases of the contract terms.

"Even if you are doing palliative work on the road, your palliative should take care of the failed portions and potholes on the road because when you leave those failed portions and potholes not repaired, they will sooner or later deteriorate as soon as the rain starts and we will be back to the deplorable condition of the road and render the whole government effort a complete waste of time and resources.

"How can you do some parts and you abandoned the majority of the menacing potholes on the stretch of the road and you say because that was not part of the contractual agreement ? What kind of palliative job is that?

"We are therefore calling on the federal government, the Honourable Minister of Works, His Excellency, David Umahi who promised to do a hundred percent concrete job on the Benin-Agbor road, Benin- Sapele Rd but this is not what he promised us and therefore we are calling him to come to our aid and give us a proper palliative work that can last some reasonable period before the promised comprehensive reconstruction."

Another respondent who spoke on the same issue, Emmanuel Okioma said," there are too many potholes which the contractors rehabilitating the road have ignored and unattended to but they are doing some parts and left some sections of the road and if they fail to repair those sections of the failed portions particularly the potholes which littered the stretch of the road from Ramat to the bypass axis, it would amount to exercise in futility as those potholes and failed portions will sooner than later deteriorate to make the road no longer motorable and it would be good therefore for the engineers to do all they can to fill up those potholes since it is not comprehensive reconstruction they are doing but to put asphalt in some sections of the road and leave the other stretch with numerous potholes is complete waste of time and resources as the road will give way before three heavy rain storm"

Comrade Osaigbovbo Obamedo, a resident of the area said that the people of the community are not happy because the palliative the government promised is not what the contractor is doing. 

According to him," just go through the road they say they have rehabilitated, there are so many potholes on the stretch of the road which is partly covered by sand. If they cannot rehabilitate the road comprehensively, at least they should be able to remedy the fail portions, cover the potholes, remove the huge sand deposits on the road sides so as to pave the way for easy access on the road. But just go through the road, you will see a lot of potholes on a road renovated by federal government of a country. As soon as the rains start now, those potholes will sooner or later degenerate to deplorable conditions that would once again escalate the anguish and pains residents and commuters go through"

Another respondent, Honourable Osazee Osaigbovbo a resident of the Ikhuen community in Ikpoba Hill in Ikpoba Okha local government area of the state,who spoke with this reporter said that the road rehabilitation is not properly done as he says there are potholes on the portions they claimed they have rehabilitated and this is what is giving them concerns.

"Well, what is giving us concerns is that the sections of the road they claimed they have rehabilitated are all full of existing potholes and failed portions which are glaringly visible and we feel if they are doing palliative work, it should be done in such a way that will eliminate those failed portions and potholes that will degenerate to deplorable conditions after a few rain storms. If those concerns are not addressed, it will just amount to exercise in futility because no sooner than the contractors leave the site, we will be faced with the same deplorable road condition because those potholes and failed portions are part of the reasons why the road is recommended for rehabilitation in the first place and if they are not repaired now the contractors are on ground working, before you know it, the whole road will soon get worsened with some few first rain falls and that won't be a good thing".

Another resident of the area who simply identified himself as Mr Charles said that the people of Ikpoba Hill appreciate the federal government effort so far to have initiated the road rehabilitation but lamented that the repair works which should have brought joy to the people is getting them worried because of the poor job execution.

According to him, " the road repair falls Short of our expectations because aside from the potholes and bad portions that the contractors are neglecting, there are no erosion control measures and the sand that is covering most stretch of the road are left just the way they have been but we were expecting that those heap of sand at intermittent points on the road should have been evacuated but they just left those potholes and diches and also the sand on the road sides and this is making everyone unhappy because as it is presently, the road will not last and even the contractors know this'

" I would like to use this medium therefore to thank the Honourable Minister of Works, his Excellency, David Umahi for coming to fix the bad road but we appeal to him to do at least 50% palliative repair so that the road can be in good use until comprehensive reconstruction work would be done.

" I want to thank the Edo state governor Mr Godwin Obaseki as well, for initiating the first palliative sometimes last year and to plead with him to fulfill his promises of fixing the old Benin-Agbor road and the Amufi road which he has started which will link Agbor road to Auchi road. We are passionately appealing to our wake and see governor to fulfill the promise of repairing the old Benin-Agbor road before his tenure expires"

Also speaking with this reporter at the rehabilitation site, the Engineer of Sermatec Nigeria limited, the construction company handling the rehabilitation works, Engr Godwin Iweka said that they are guided by their contract terms adding that the contract terms measures length and square areas of failed sections to be attended to.

According to him, " we are guided by our contact terms which measures length and square areas of failed sections to be attended to and we must ensure that we capture that length before we begin to look at some of the things we see as potholes.

" If for instance you are given 1 km of road to repair, you will have to do straight length of the road first and see how much you have covered and as you can see, we have done some stretches and have also attended to potholes close to those stretches and of course when we are done with this we will attend to the potholes. It makes sense technically to move to those areas which are longer in stretch and finish it up and come back to those potholes and bad portions and that way it would appear to someone who doesn't understand what we are doing as if we are jumping over some areas. But everywhere will be revisited as long as we have not gone beyond what is in our contract terms.

He further added that, " the terms of the contract was the rehabilitation of failed portions of the Benin-Agbor road which includes clearing of the road sides of sand to give 7. 3 meter wide access road and that is what we will do which of course has its scope attached to it and we will not fail to do whatever is within our scope of contract which includes the repairs from Ramat to Bypass around NIPCO Petrol station in Agbor road in Ikpoba Hill and the total length of road in our contract terms measures about 2. 8 km stretch of road" he concluded.