Usani: I Can’t Predict Completion Date of East-West Road

*Says completion of project tied to availability of funds

The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA), Pastor Usani Uguru Usani on Thursday declared that it would amount to deceit to put a timeline on the completion of the East-West Road, arguing that delivering the project to its final phase was tied to availability of funds.

But he assured that the ministry was making every effort to source funds outside budgetary provisions, promising that no stone would be left unturned in completing the project if the necessary resources are available.

His ministry in particular and the current administration in general, he stated, were poised to ensure the completion of the flagship project for the Niger Delta region now that technical design errors and other initial hitches had been addressed.

Unveiling the activities of his ministry in Abuja on Thursday at the 2017 ministerial press conference, Usani  said as a Niger Deltan, he was as anxious as any other person to see the project completed, but noted that with the current financial situation, it would be foolhardy to pin-point the completion date of the road.

Noting that tremendous work was going on in various sections of the road as contractors had been mobilised to site, he stated that outstanding liabilities were quite enormous.

“Section 1 of the East West Road has been completed, while sections 11, 111 and IV of the road have reached advanced states of completion, while Section V (from Oron to Calabar) is being redesigned for the commencement of work,” Usani said.

According to him, the financial requirement of completing the road was quite humongous such that the entire capital vote of the ministry would not be enough to complete it.

Disclosing that alternative funding windows were being explored to complete the road which was started in 2006, he stated that China Eximbank was one of the sources being considered.

The minister also disclosed that a presidential entrepreneurship programme had been approved nationwide and would commence in the Niger Delta region, with the aim, among others, to revive moribund industries.

According to him, five states in the region would be used for the pilot scheme even as he added that the European Union (EU) recently increased its grant to complete the skills acquisition centres from 5 million euros to 10 million euros.

To ensure the development of infrastructure in the region, the minister stated that his ministry was working out modalities of  developing infrastructure development partnerships.

The minister noted that due to the peculiar terrain of the Niger Delta region, a presidential waiver on procurement  had been granted to fast track infrastructure development usually hamstrung by long processes required in getting procurement approvals.

He also stated that his ministry was collaborating with the nine states of the Niger Delta to establish industrial parks in each of the states, adding that modalities were being worked out for the commencement of the project.

“In order to avoid waste and duplication of development efforts in the Niger Delta region, the ministry had also initiated a platform for collaboration between it, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the nine states in the Niger Delta region, the international oil and gas companies operating in the region, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) and other relevant agencies.