UMUTU BRIDGE COLLAPSE & DELTA RULING PDP CULTURE FOR SHODDY PROJECTS. By Zik Gbemre.

 

"The collapse of a bridge on a major road again exposes Delta State Government's culture of shoddy project under ruling PDP since days of thieving ex-convict Ibori".

"The state's poor approach to project delivery is further compounded by the high propensity to wait till public infrastructures witness total collapse before whatever intervention is made".

"Udu Bridge is just another disaster waiting to happen as Okowa continues to ignore stakeholders complaints for urgent intervention".

The reported collapse on the foot of a bridge on Umutu stretch of Agbor Road is fraught with the multiple deficiencies, real or induced, that characterizes the failure of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hegemony over Delta state since ex-convict Chief James Ibori's governorship.

The first thing you notice is lack of commitment to respond to emergencies. In a clime where things work well, the Governor Okowa administration would have responded swiftly to mobilise to the failed bridge and begin repairs while motorists and commuters make do with detours to cut off that point on the road.

The second failure provoked by the development is the ruling PDP's administration for shoddy projects, not just on roads but almost all physical constructions being embarked on by the state. The collapsed bridge was obviously not constructed by Okowa but like his predecessors, even the roads being delivered by Okowa are shoddier than those he inherited, failing months after commissioning.

The simple reason is that Delta, under the PDP hegemony is intoxicated on politicizing all contracts awards. To award a road project, worse under Okowa, merit or quality is never a consideration. The primary consideration is to look for the most gullible mushroom contractor who is a loyalist of the Governor in power. 

Where the projects are usually awarded at highly inflated costs, it's easy for the lucky PDP contractor to concede to releasing substantial half of the bloated project cost for sharing among key stakeholders after which the contractor is free to deliver the job as shoddy, as the project will fail within a few months.

That is why under Okowa, I am  happy that in some communities, a few voiceful individuals have found the will to resist shoddy Okowa road projects, like in Ikpide-Irri, in Isoko land where the Governor awarded a key road project as a partisan favour to PORTPLUS, an unfit PDP contractor overwhelmed by the magnitude of the job for which he has no capacity.

Even after conceding to the dissenting community voices that the quality of work was too shoddy to accept, the Okowa administration rather than bringing in a competent contractor, went further to offer upward variation to the contractor and though it was insufficient budgeting that led to the poor delivery. So far, the Ikpide-Irri shoddy road project is stagnated and has become the emblem of Delta Government's preference for shoddy road projects under Okowa. That is the Governor who claims to be a Road Master.

At Effurun-Otor, Ughelli South LGA, the Governor shamelessly made of show of it with live broadcast of the shoddy job another unfit contractor, Chief John Oguma did as Effurun- Otor-Ovwor Bridge. Where does such a substandard job pass for approval?

The other government failure the Umutu Bridge collapse exposes is the propensity to wait till total collapse or a major disaster occur before pretentious remedy is offered. Why wait for things to go bad before the needfull is done.

As we speak, Udu Bridge is a bigger disaster waiting to happen due to the neglect of Okowa. Constructed since the days of Gen Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia, the Udu Bridge has been overwhelmed by heavy traffic and aging. Worried by the security risk it poses, stakeholders in Udu had to barricade it to heavy duty equipment reduce the pressure on it.. Somehow a higher authority has removed the bars, increasing the risks at that point.

Repeatedly, Udu stakeholders and transporters have called for serious reinforcement of the Udu Bridge and the construction of an alternative bridge to support the original one that is now too shaky, weak and constituting serious danger capable of claiming lives if urgent efforts are not made.

Zik Gbemre

"We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes".