Hon Alhassan Hammanjoda
Chairmam House standing committee
On infrastructure
By Jonathan Filibus
Irked by the level of abandoned rural roads /electrification projects by some contractors in some parts of the state, the Adamawa State House of Assembly Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Community Development has vowed to descend on the contractors that abandoned rural roads/electrification projects awarded to them by the state government.
The Chairman of the House Committee, Hon. Alhassan Hammanjoda(Ganye) stated this while leading other members of the committee on a familiarisation visit on the Ministry of Infrastructure and Community Development, Rural Access and Mobility Projects (RAMP2) and Community and Social Development Agency(CSDA) today.
Hon. Hammanjoda, declared that his committee would not afford to neglect rural roads/ electrification projects awarded to some contractors but later abandoned the work halfway, saying it would be a great disservice to the state if they fail to take action on it.
According to the legislator, some of the contractors had collected about 70 to 80 percent of their contract sum, yet abandoned the work, explaining that the affected contractors must be made to complete the work.
He asked the ministry of Infrastructure in particular to furnish the committee with details on all the projects to enable his committee take next line of action, expressing their readiness to visit all the sites of the work to have an on the spot assessment of the work.
Speaking earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Arc. Aliyu Bello Tarfa, told the committee that the major problem of the ministry is the issue abandoned projects in rural communities.
The Per sec observed with dismay how billions had been expended over the years, yet according to him:” we have a lot of abandoned projects ” pointing out that they had identified them, written work plan and forwarded to the Governor so as to appreciate the situation on the ground.
He added that the ministry found out that the contractors had been given mobilisation, but decided to abandoned the projects, stating that the ministry has since commenced work on some of the projects.
