THE Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved N38.4 billion for the completion of road projects in five states in the country.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who disclosed this to State House Correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, said the projects were inherited from past administrations in the country.
He added that the five states are Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Imo, and Nasarawa.
Fashola said: “They are not new projects. They are projects we inherited and we are trying to complete. So essentially, they relate to cost revision because of the ages of the contracts and the prices of goods that had changed.
“So, the first one was the contract for a 13.5-kilometre spur of the road from Onitsha-Owerri Road through Okija-Ihembosi-For Ugbor to Ezinifite in Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State.
“That contract was awarded in 2011 but was not funded until this administration came in so the contractor is asking us to revise the contract by N488,980,891 and an additional completion period of six months. The council approved that review of price and the extended completion period.”
The minister revealed that the second contract was for the completion of a 20-kilometre road in Bayelsa State.
He added: “The second one is the 20-kilometre dualisation of Yenagoa road junction to Kolo and Otuoke and Bayelsa Palm in Bayelsa State. That contract was awarded in December 2014 on the eve of the tenure of the last administration and it couldn’t even take off because of militancy issues at the time and also very limited budget provisions.
“It is one of the contracts that we have since activated with the Sukuk Bond. So, the dualization is progressing but there is some additional work that needs to be done. There are also results of further investigations that support a revision of the contract by ₦7.947 billion and this was approved by the council.”
“The third one is the 74-kilometre Nasarawa to Loko Road. That is the road that was awarded, I believe, in 2006. So it’s 15 years today, 74 kilometres and it has not been completed. This road links the Loko-Oweto Bridge which we inherited and had completed. The Loko-Oweto Bridge links Nasarawa to Benue across the River Benue and also connects the Oweto to Oshogbedo Road which we also inherited and had completed.
“The complete lane from Otukpo to Nasarawa ought to be facilitated by this 74-kilometre road. The contractor has struggled with just about five kilometres of it since 2006, and a small bridge.
“So, what we have proposed was that instead of going through the long process of termination and all of that, we proposed and council agreed that the contractor who finished the bridge and the contractor who finished the road, because they were all awarded to different contractors before we came, should join this contractor and take up the remainder.”
