Hartland Nigeria Limited, the contractor handling the reconstruction of the 50-km Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Road in Abia, officially returned to site Thursday to resume work on the project.
the Federal Government first awarded the N13.2 billion contract to the company in 2019 but the job was stalled by the paucity of fund.
In 2021, the Federal Executive Council re-approved the project for funding by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) through the Road Tax Credit Scheme.
Speaking with newsmen after inspecting the site, the company’s Managing Director, Mr Fayez Khalaf, said the company had started mobilising equipment to site.
He said the federal government had released the fund, including the outstanding, to enable the company to expedite action on the project.
Khalaf said that their immediate focus was to rehabilitate the deplorable 10-km Umuahia-Oboro portion of the road this dry season in order to end the sufferings of the road users.
He said that the company would need to fill the failed portions, especially at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike section.