The Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) commissioner in Edo State, Hon Saturday Uwuilekhue has directed contractors of abandoned projects across the state to immediately return to site.Uwuilekhue who resumed on Monday at the NDDC headquarters in Benin City said that priority projects with economic viability will be identified together with some stakeholders and implemented immediately to the benefit of rural people.He said contractors who abandoned their projects and have been paid will have to go back and complete them while ongoing projects will be looked on to know if it is economically viable.He thanked the staff for their warm reception stating that We are going to work together as one and the same family.According to him, I have just got a brief, i will analyse it with some other stakeholders so that we will be able to identify our priority but first is to check the excesses if there is any especially those who have collected money from the commission and they didnt go to site. We are going to call them, invite them for a serious meeting and give them a marching order to go to site as quickly as possible because the people are waiting to see that projects are executed in their environment.We are still going to look at some priority projects, we have to prioritize the issue of the budget process, and what i have seen is not tenable and if we will go home with that we are not going to make any positive mark in Edo. I will not support any action or anybody coming up with budget with doing half a kilometre road, one kilometre road. If we are going to do three projects in a year we should face the three projects and ensure that they are executed.I will consult with other stakeholders in the state and those in the Senate and House of Representatives and the Edo state government to identify some key projects that we can execute for the state. We have to reprioritize our priorities in the state; we should be able to know the one that will be done by the state government, EDSOGPADEC, NDDC and other government agencies including the oil companies in Edo state. We are going to collaborate to bring the needed development to the doorstep of the core community in the coastal region. For me it is a project mandate to ensure that the projects meet the yearnings of the people are executed.On the issue of abandoned project, the NDDC Commissioner said, We will look at the economic viability of the project. If we see the project is not economically viable, it will be completely abandoned.If contractors have been given money we need to encourage them to go to site and if they have not been mobilized and we discover that the project is not economically viable, we will ask that NDDC signboard be removed from it and placed in an area which the stakeholders will know that the project is of economic benefit to Edo.
Click here to read full news..
