By Ezra Ukanwa, Abuja
The Joint House Committees on Works, Environment, Finance, Justice, and Science & Technology yesterday organized a Public Hearing on the Adoption of Concrete Technology for Road Construction in Nigeria.
Declaring the event open, the Speaker of the House of Representatives Hon Tajudeen Abbas decried the poor condition of some major road networks across the country.
The speaker who was represented at the occasion by the chief whip of the House, Hon Bello Kumo further revealed that road construction is very critical to the federal government ‘Renewed Hope Agenda”
Kumo equally used the opportunity to commend the committees for organizing the public hearing, informing that the subject matter is of major concern to the 10th House of Representatives.
Speaking further the Speaker charged all stakeholders to be open and speak out for the parliament to make informed decisions.
He also urged for fair comments and upbuilding contributions aimed at assisting the house to make vibrant recommendations and suggestions to improve the quality of roads across the country.
On his part, the Chairman of the Joint Committees, Hon Akin Alabi also spoke of the deplorable state of roads in the country even as he observed that work carried out by some contractors are not commensurate with the amount of funds they have received.
He reiterated the readiness of the House to be thorough over their mandates even as he advised members to be transparent and fair in its dealing with stakeholders.
He also spoke on the objectives of the public hearing emphasizing that it is not meant to witch hunt any person or group of persons but to get general views of Nigerians of what should constitute major materials for our road construction.
In his contributions, the Chairman of Nigerian Institution of Highway and Transportation Engineers, Engr Saidu Hassan expressed delight that his agency was invited for the public hearing by the Committees informing that though his agency is not against the policy, it, advised the parliament to subject it to the scrutiny of highway stakeholders to ensure that appropriate engineering procedures and processes are strictly followed to allow for proper implementation strategies.
The agency also urged lawmakers to give the proposed concrete roads enough time required for the importation of new equipment and training of relevant manpower.
The agency also calls for flexible contracts to be converted to rigid pavement adding that such will require the BPP to fix the new state of concrete pavement, revise the contract sum, and subsequently seek Federal Executive Council, FEC approval.
A representative of the Ministry of Works, and Director Highway Construction and Rehabilitation, federal ministry of works, Engr Adedomola Kuti explained that the position of his submission is not for people to go full-scale concrete while engaging in road construction.
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