The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State, has faulted the All Progressive Congress, APC, – led government for negligence and mismanagement which led to the collapse of part of the 200-bed Central Hospital Complex in Benin two years ago.

State chairman of the PDP, Dan Orbih, told newsmen that there was project management failure on the part of government through the ministry of Works, which led to the lapses which resulted in the collapse of the four-storey building.

Basing his allegation on the report of the panel set up by State government to investigate the immediate and remote causes of the collapse, which the PDP claimed to possess, Orbih accused governor Adams Oshiomhole of failing to provide the enabling environment for the project consultants to finish what they started by not engaging them in the post contract services, including implementation and supervision of the project.

Members of the panel include representatives of the Nigeria Society of Engineers, NSE, Nigeria Institute of Architects, NIA, Council of Registered Builders and the Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors.

The party said the non-inclusion of relevant technical professional team to remedy all lapses before and during the period that the contractors took over site resulted in the collapse.

It said that the main contractor, SCInt, was selected without any input from the project architects and that the state government erred by awarding a contract worth over N3billion to a company that has no qualified structural engineer and
architect.

“Clearly, there was no proper project planning for this construction project. In this case, proper monitoring and quality control by government, ministries, and the consultants were conspicuously ignored. Ministry of Works failed to meet up with the challenge of overseeing the successful completion of the project,” he said.

According to the PDP, the report also faulted the project architect, Tom Ikimi Design Co., over the design of the raft foundation of the project and recommended that the entire building be brought down.

Reacting to the allegations, the special assistant, media and public affairs to the governor, Kassim Afegbua, said the report as presented by the PDP was fake, noting that there was no way the party could have laid hands on the report.

“Reports set up by the state government are not submitted at the market place or the PDP secretariat, they are submitted to Governor Adams Oshiomhole. The state government has not said that its document was missing, so the one they are brandishing might be that of their own probe panel,” he said.

Oshiomhole, last week awarded the contract for the rebuilding of parts of the hospital affected by the collapse.