In response to recommendations to set up an in-house works team, the head of the Roads and Infrastructure committee has sent a proposal to the vice-chairman of BIPORAL. The in-house works team is expected to improve efficiency reduce the cost of road maintenance and create a sustainable system.
In an earlier interview with BIPORAL Echo, Mr Murray Ekong, a structural engineer and head of the committee had mentioned the challenges in getting work done swiftly. This in-house committee would improve processes.
“We have proposed the in-house infrastructure unit (BIPORAL employed staff for road rehabilitation),” Ekong said.
The team members will be paid a monthly salary. The team will have its own standard moulds for kerbs, drain covers, walkway slabs and water troughs. Interlock stones to be purchased from HFP.
With the above suggestion, complaints by residents for remedial intervention will be tackled immediately without any form of delay and all damaged roads will be repaired in a timely manner by the in-house team.
Remember that the Road and Infrastructure Committee had in June mapped its activities into four phases to enable easy implementation. This was according to Ekong, chairman of the committee. Among the activities was resolving the recurring flooding at the Banana Island road. Ekong had said his committee had carried out a reconnaissance survey for the approach road and discovered the main cause of the flooding is that a structure was built across the canal leading to the lagoon from the road.
Every intervention to ease the flooding will not last until this is resolved. “We have engaged an engineer pro-bono to redesign the culvert. This has also been submitted to the executives for action,” he said. “We await the instruction to clear the canal before reconstructing the culvert around it.”
Another activity that topped the committee’s list was the upgrade of the second avenue and the closes around it. This included getting a pictorial presentation of the disrepair or defect on the roads, and then a quantity surveyor was invited for costing.
The executive had approved the permission to call for bids. “We have tendered for the road repairs on 2nd Avenue and carried out an assessment of the road repairs and have submitted the recommendations to the executives for action.”
Of equal importance was the upgrade of the third avenue and the closes off it. The works on 3rd avenue had advanced before the Ipnx team began digging it up to install their cables. They were asked to reinstate the road to its original state however they did a shoddy job.
The committee had been assessing and costing the level of disrepair before submission to the executive. Ekong suggested that Ipnx should be penalised or forced to repair the roads properly or “we bear the cost of the
repairs at a cost to Ipnx.