Work on East-West Road will be grounded in 2015 – Minister

Steve Oru, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, has said the outstanding liabilities on the capital projects of his ministry at present has hit the N41.7 billion.
The minister said this on Thursday in Abuja when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria.
Oru said the liabilities were recorded due to the shortfall in funding.
He said that with the provision of the “very low and unrealistic capital ceiling of N6 billion for 2015”, about 90 per cent of the Ministry’s ongoing capital projects will not be funded.
He stressed the need for adequate funding of the ministry to ensure the completion of its ongoing projects.
Oru said only adequate funding would prevent the halt of major projects like the East-West Road.
The minister also said there was the need to ensure that the ministry’s programme engaging youths and women of the region under training does not derail.
He said: “The programme of engagement of youths and women of the region who have been trained or are being trained and have high expectations that the ministry will empower them will be derailed.”
The Minister also said the housing projects and skills acquisition centres at various stages of completion would have to be halted, if there’s no funding for them.
According to Oru, all environmental protection projects will have to be suspended, pending when funds will be allocated for them.
NAN recalls that the East-West Road has attained 90 per cent completion.
The ministry, since its inception, has also empowered 1,063 non-militant youths in the region in various skills.
The Niger Delta Housing scheme constructed by the Federal Government to compensate displaced indigenes is also 51 per cent completed.