Gov. Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti State, on Friday, met with contractors handling different government road projects and directed them to speed up work on them before the advent of the rainy season.

The governor, who insisted that his administration would not owe any of them, said payment would be made once the supervisory ministry gave approval for payment based on satisfactory work.

Stating that the state government intended to embark on many projects this year, the governor said only contractors that delivered quality jobs and timely too, would be considered for other engagements.

The governor, together with the commissioner for works, Sola Adebayo and the ministry’s engineers, as well as the special adviser, office of project monitoring, Femi Ajayi and other top officials, undertook critical appraisals of all the projects and the performances of the contractors at the meeting.

“It is important we take advantage of the two to three months we have before the rainy season sets in to complete many of the projects,” Mr Oyebanji told the contractors, who also presented updates on their projects.

The contractors and contracting firms at the meeting included China Civil Engineering Company (CCECC), Immobiliare Construction Company, STEP Development Limited, Craneburg Construction, and Peculiar Ultimate Concerns Limited.

Others were Kouris Construction Nigeria Limited, Dromo International Limited, Leadgate Global Construction Company Limited, RUDY Construction Nigeria Limited, Dortmund and Co Limited, and Delko Holdings Nigeria Limited.

Projects that were appraised included Atlas- Ajebandele- Deeper Life- Alasia- Omisanjana Road; Ado- Iworoko- Ifaki Road; Ikere – Igbara Odo Road; Ijigbo- Ajilosun Flyover Bridge; Ado- Ekiti City Ring Road (Phase 1); Ikere-Ilawe Road; and Agric Olope- Moferere- Odo Ado Road.

The governor promised to do an on-the-spot assessment of all the projects within the next two weeks to further ascertain the level of compliance.

The governor also urged the citizens of the state, especially community leaders, to take ownership of the various projects in their areas, to ensure timely and quality delivery.

(NAN)