The Federal Government has made known that it has N431 billion available for contractors through the Ministry of Works.
At a meeting with all project managers for road dualization and all ministry zonal directors on Thursday at the ministry’s office in Abuja, the minister of works, David Umahi, made this statement.
The Minister also stated that the Ministry would concentrate on the majority of the dualized highways in the nation.
“We are here to declare our determination to deal with the majority of the dual-lane roads in the nation,” he added.
I would like to remind you that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is supporting 50% of the contract value through 2025.
“We have N431 billion ready for contractors to clear, but there is no certificate for it. If you are doing a job under Phase 1, try to submit claims; if your job involves augmentation, go back to your regional director for understanding before I sign the certificate. Any certificate I sign now, I have to take account for it even after I leave office.”
Speaking through Blessing Lere-Adams, Director of Information, Press, and Public Relations, Umahi further instructed the contractors to stay in one lane if their job had not reached 50% completion and mentioned that he had also developed a Performance Bond that would ensure all new projects for a 10-year period.
In order to suspend construction or have the road rebuilt to endure ten years, he urged all contractors who had built roads that were not capable of withstanding that amount of time to write to the Ministry.
However, he cautioned contractors that he would not take their tales of road failures brought on by overloading, and he urged them to work with him to build roads using concrete technology, as was done in Singapore and India.
Umahi also urged the contractors and other interested parties to support President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. According to Umahi, this Administration has 18000 kilometers of roads and inherited contracts worth about N14.1 trillion, of which N4 trillion is being paid for all of the projects, some of which have taken between 10 and 20 years to complete.
According to the Minister, some contractors have increased the contractor sum by 100%, which is why they are not receiving payment.
The Minister stated, “Expecting an endorsement from the Ministry of what is not acceptable to the Nigerian Society of Engineers is not possible. We are going back to the original concept of the projects and the necessity of any further works and also see how we achieve a fair deal.”
I Umahi added that “Mr. President knows road infrastructure, and if I come before him with a contract for a value of N44 billion reviewed to N144 billion contract sum, I must be able to present details of how the cost came about.”
