Osun Assembly Stops Payments To Contractor Pending Further Instruction
By Israel Afolabi
The State of Osun House of Assembly has directed the Accountant-General to stop further payment to the contractor handling Odeomu/Gbongan road, RATCON Construction Company pending his appearance alongside officials of the state Ministry of Works before the House.
The directive was made by the Speaker, Dr Najeem Salaam at the plenary on Tuesday sequel to the presentation of the report of inspection to the project site, led by the Deputy Speaker, Honourable Akintunde Adegboye.
Noting that the essence of the exercise was to be guided on the specification of the projects and establish the level of compliance, he directed the clerk at the table to write to the Accountant-General to stop further payment.
Meanwhile, earlier during the inspection, Adegboye had directed the contractor to present documents relating to the specification of the road construction to the house so as to verify the standard.
The legislators who stopped at different locations on the road observed the level of work done so far and raised a number of issues when they came across potholes in some areas along the road.
Therefore, having listened to explanations by the contractor, they directed that adequate repair be carried out so as to prevent accident on the road.
Addressing newsmen, Adegboye observed that the delegation was on site to see the situation of the road sequel to complaints received from members of the public.
According to him, “We have called the attention of the contractor to the potholes and the contractor has explained the reason for the potholes and has agreed to carry out repair on the affected areas of the road.
“I am assured that the affected areas would be fixed within limited time and we can only be satisfied when they bring all their documents concerning the works”, he added.
While commending the job done on the Chief Adebisi Akande trumpet bridge, he stated that the House would continue to ensure the proper monitoring and evaluations of all projects done in the state.
However, other lawmakers on the entourage, including the chairman House committee on Works and Infrastructure, Abiodun Awolola in separate remarks charged the contractor to be up and doing so as to deliver the project on time.
In his contribution, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, Engr. Nurudeen Adeagbo attributed the problem of potholes observed on the road to contaminated bitumen used, which the contractor has agreed to correct.
Also, the representative of RATCON Construction Company, Mr. Fouad assured that necessary repair would be carried out soonest on the affected areas, saying “We did sand sample on the soil used on the road but the bitumen used needs to be improve on and it will be done”.
It would be recalled that the House at the plenary directed that the Ode-Omu\Gbongan road under construction should be inspected by a delegation of lawmakers to know the condition of the road.
