The Member Of the Abia State House of Assembly Committee on Public Petitions, Hon. Barry Jerry Uzosike brought a Petition Yesterday on the floor of the House by the Coalition of Aba Indigenes and Residents (CAIR) which was signed by its President Dr John Okeahialam Titled ” SABOTAGE AND FRAUD: POOR QUALITY OF WORKS AND ABANDONMENT OF CONSTRUCTION SITES IN ABA BY SETRACO,CHINA ZHONGHO NIGERIA LIMITED, TRACK CARE and Other Construction Companies Doing Work In and Around Aba in Abia State.
The Petition Reads in Parts”
Aba Metropolis which includes Part of Osisioma, Obingwa and Ugwunagbo have over time experienced serious infrastructural decay and dilapidation.it is very worrisome when we imagine and think about the huge amount of Internally generated Revenue that the state realizes in Aba. It became more worrisome that now that it appears that the present Government set out to salvage Aba City by approving funding and mobilising contracts of Construction and rehabilitation of the Public Infrastructure, particularly Roads, that the Contractors and/or Construction Companies will SABOTAGE such Government efforts and become the nightmare to be suffered by the Aba People.
Top on the List of these Contractors/Construction Companies is SETRACO that wants to show by their gesture that there is no one in charge of Abia State Administration and that not even the oversight functions of the Abia State House of Assembly can call them to Order.
SETRACO was awarded the contract of reconstruction of 4.8km Faulks Road, rehabilitation and expansion of Ifeobara Pond at a Mind-Blowing whooping sum of N6.9B out of which N4.5b has been advanced to SETRACO.
When as an Interested group tried to meet with SETRACO Company so we could know what the problem was, they were recalcitrant and evasive and asked us on whose fiat we have come to querry them. The worst still was when confronted the Company that we would report them to the Abia State House of Assembly and the Company’s Position was that Abia State House of Assembly never gave them any Job and so they do not owe an explanation to them.
Would SETRACO receive and hold such amount of N4.5b in other states like Rivers, Lagos, Anambra and walk away without doing the Job?
Other Companies that have diligently and dutifully failed in their contracts as awarded with our tax money and who are sabotaging the efforts of the State Government and also defrauding the State are:
CHINA ZHONGHO NIGERIA LIMITED which was awarded the contract of building/constructing the flyover at Osisioma Junction. That Flyover has in fact brought ridicule and mockery to Aba and even the Abia State Government. We the Coalition of Aba Indigenes and Residents are reliably informed that up to 80% of the contract sum of building the flyover bridge has been paid to the Chinese Company.
Another Construction Contractor is Track Care that is awared6and has been highly mobilized /funded for the expansion and Rehabilitation of 13Km Ururuka Road from Obikabia Junction to Umuobikwa. A Visit to the site will show that the Contractors are sabotaging the efforts of the State Government. It appears that they are only interested in getting Funds.
We believe that there is Conspiracy somewhere, and if there is none, we therefore hereby Petition the Abia State House of Assembly and pray as follows:
(1) To Investigate the contracts and review especially SETRACO and 4.8km Faulks Road awarded them at a mind Blowing sum of 6.9b, with a view to directing the review of the Contract sum.
(2) To Direct a refund part of the sum N4.5b already paid or advanced as N4.5b is more than enough to do the entire Roads in Aba City as the average standard cost of Building Roads per Wordbank Benchmark is N238m per kilom6.
(3) That the Abia State House of Assembly invitation and Investigation should not be limited to SETRACO, CHINA ZHONGHO and TRACK CARE
(4) Ask and order all the Contractors both the ones listed herein and others who are not listed herein, to move back to the site and finish the work so Contracted.
Source: PUO
