Presidency blames contractors for Benin-Agbor-Asaba road failure + video

The Presidency has blamed the contractor handling the Benin-Agbor-Asaba Expressway for the deplorable state and recent failure of the critical highway.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, spoke on Channels Television on Wednesday.

He was reacting to the condition of the highway and President Bola Tinubu’s directive for its redesign and total reconstruction.

Dare claimed that the collapse of the road sections demonstrates a failure on the part of the contractor to act professionally.

The Presidency emphasized that the situation on the Benin-Agbor-Asaba Expressway is an isolated case driven by heavy seasonal rains and should not be used to judge the progress of the over 320 federal road projects nationwide.

“I think that first, these are isolated cases. And we all know by the nature of road construction, during rainy season, you encounter problems like this,” he said.

He said the government had a responsibility to identify roads requiring repairs and provide funding, while contractors were expected to execute the projects properly.

“Whatever played out yesterday, we had all the stakeholders there. And it’s important that even the contractor came out, even though he gave excuses, it showed a failure on their part,” Dare said.

His comments came a day after the Minister of Works, David Umahi, inspected the troubled Benin-Agbor-Asaba road in Edo State and apologised to commuters over its condition.

Umahi took responsibility for the state of the highway and condemned the concessionaire handling its reconstruction.

This was as he directed moves towards the total reconstruction of the road after concluding that palliative measures would not be sufficient.

Speaking on the development, Dare said the rapid intervention by the Works Minister, National Assembly members and other stakeholders demonstrated the government’s response to infrastructure challenges.

“Government has a responsibility to identify the roads that need to be fixed. Government has a responsibility to provide the funding.

“And then, the next responsibility goes to the contractors to do what is necessary.

“What we saw yesterday, the Minister, the National Assembly members, and other key stakeholders going there in record time, right on the spot.

“And I think that’s what good governance is about, responding as quickly and as swiftly as possible, putting the blame where it is, and requesting for immediate action,” he said.

He maintained that the Benin-Asaba incident was not representative of all ongoing federal road projects, saying several roads had been fixed without similar complaints.

“I said these are isolated, but we have quite a number of other roads where there are no complaints, where the roads have been fixed,” Dare said.

He further defended the pace of ongoing road projects across the country, saying motorists would have to endure some inconveniences while construction work progresses.

According to him, he recently travelled along the Abuja-Lokoja corridor with about 65 journalists and observed completed sections of the road, including stretches where concrete construction was ongoing.

“A 100% solution, and I… you know, solutions are progressive,” Dare said.

He explained that road projects were often constructed in sections, meaning motorists might temporarily use older portions of a highway while completed sections were brought into service.

“It’s like a house construction; a house is not built in a day, it’s progressive. Until the roof comes on, the rain will still pour down on the building,” he said.

Dare said the Federal Government was currently undertaking major road projects across the country, including five legacy roads and about 320 roads nationwide.

He said the scale of the projects reflected Tinubu’s focus on infrastructure development, while crediting the Works Ministry with implementing the administration’s road construction programme.