Minister of Works, Sen. David Umahi, has announced the availability of N431bn meant for the dualization of federal roads across the country.
Umahi noted that the renewed hope agenda which he came to implement in Nigeria roads through the Federal Ministry of Works inherited 18,000km of roads worth N14trn.
Umahi said this at the ministry headquarters when he met with contractors working on road dualization in the country a statement signed by the Director of Information, Federal Ministry of Works, Blessing Lere-Adams said.
He said about N4trn has been paid on the inherited projects, which have been in for between 10 and 20 years.
The minister said that performance bond would be part of all contracts where contractors would sign guarantee for jobs, stating that it would last a minimum of 10 years after completion of the contract.
According to the statement, Umahi said, “Why we are here is to announce our intention to face most of the dualised roads in the country.
“I want to remind you that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is funding 50% percent of the contract sum and that funding goes up to 2025,” the minister stated.
The minister lamented that why “we have N431bn ready for contractors to clear, there is no certificate to claim the fund.”
He challenged the contractors that “If you are doing a job under Phase 1, make effort to make 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 when I have left office as minister,” Umahi stated.
According to the statement “The Minister tasked contractors to stick to one lane of their job if it has not gone up to 50% completion and emphasized that all contracts would be based on performance bonds therefore all new projects would be guaranteed for 10 years.
“He urged all contractors who have built roads that cannot last up to ten years to write to the ministry to either stop work or rebuild the road to last minimum of 10 years.
“Umahi warned contractors that he would not listen to stories of failures on the roads due to overloading, he enjoined all the contractors to cooperate with him on building roads with concrete technology as it was done both in India and Singapore.
“Engr. Umahi told the contractors and stakeholders to key into the Renewed Hope Agenda of President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, pointing out that this administration has 1,8000 kilometre of roads and inherited a contract sum of about N14.1 trillion and out of which N4trillion is being paid in all those projects, some of the projects have lasted between 10 to 20years.
“The Minister said some contractors have jerked up the contractor sum by a hundred percent and that is the reason they are not getting paid.
“We are going back to the original concept of the projects and the necessity of any additional works and also see how we get a fair deal, expecting an endorsement from the Ministry of what is not acceptable to Nigerian Society of Engineers is not possible, “ The Minister said.
“Engr. Umahi also confirmed that “ Mr President understands road infrastructure, If I come before him with a contract of N44bn reviewed to N144bn contract sum , I must be able to provide details of how the cost came about.”
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