–Blank NEWS Online (NIGERIA) –By Albert OGRAKA:

In a bid to get value for taxpayers’ money invested on road construction, Delta State Government may slam three years retention period on contractors.

This was disclosed in a meeting with the contractors and other stakeholders as convened by the Commissioner for Works, Chief James Augoye and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Peter Mrakpor on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 in Asaba.

At the meeting, the Commissioner for Works, Chief James Augoye lamented that despite the huge sums of money invested by the state government on road construction, taxpayers do not get value for their money.

In the same vein, the Commissioner for Justice Barr Peter Mrakpor observed that failed roads do not speak well of the state government, stressing that engineers who approved such roads will be prosecuted forthwith.

“If a road fails within one year, have we gotten the value of our money? That is why we have decided that any road which fails within a given period of time, such contractors would come back for repairs at his own cost” he asserted.

After much negotiations to reduce the retention period from a proposed five years period, both commissioners appealed to the contractors to deliver projects that will endure the test of time, adding that the retention fee will be paid in percentages after practical completion of project.

Speaking also, the state Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Delta State, Mr. Ocheja Ameh appealed to contractors to involve the agency during construction work in the state to ease human and vehicular movement.