The Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, Thursday, directed the contractors handling sections I- IV of Lokoja- Benin, Obajana Junction- Benin roads in Kogi and Edo states to immediately sign the new contract as reviewed under the Renewed Hope administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu or face the termination of their job by the Federal Ministry of Works.
Umahi gave the directive during a meeting with the contractors handling the project held in Abuja.
The representatives of Mothercat Ltd, CCECC Ltd, Dantat & Sawoe Ltd, CGC Ltd and RCC Ltd were in attendance.
He further directed the ministry to within seven days, carry out a comprehensive audit of the ongoing projects to know the status of work done, the capacity of personnel and equipment being used by the contractors.
The minister also frowned at the pranks of the contractors who were part of the process of re-scoping and reviewing the contract specifications but failed to sign the review contract documents after signing that they would do the job based on the new specification.
He said: ”The project was initially N121 billion, but before the administration of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the project was already reviewed to about over N870 billion. When I came in as Minister, I saw that the project was over-bloated, and I refused to take the No Objection to FEC.
” I had to go through the road myself, and I realized that some sections of the road could not survive asphalt. So we started meetings that took us over five months with all the contractors, and in the meetings, we agreed to re-scope the project. So we re-scoped the project where we said okay, the new lanes should be done on concrete and the other ones done on asphalt.
“So we kept the contracts up and we all signed the documents and based on signing the documents, we took it to BPP and from BPP we went to FEC, and before we went to FEC, we demanded for them to approve that they can do the job. They all gave us letters of approval.”
He wondered why contractors were given jobs without having the required manpower and equipment to do the job, and warned that henceforth any contractor signing a contract must sign alongside the basic rate and timeline.
”So the position of the government is that if you are not signing the contracts between today and tomorrow, you will forgo the jobs. You can go to court. We will not enter into any condition for further negotiation. This contract is over N2 billion per kilometre. You don’t have the equipment to do the work.
“Let me even assure you that if you are signing the contract, you will sign it alongside the basic rates. You sign it alongside the timetable, and you deploy it in three sections, or I will terminate the job. Enough of playing with the psyche of the people”, the Minister said.
He further stated that the ministry would not allow any contractor to hold the country to ransom or to impose their conditions on the ministry.
“You don’t want to work, leave the job. It’s not compulsory that you must be the one to do the job. You can not be on-site, and the people are dying. The vehicles are falling, and you’re playing politics with the lives of the people. And we fold our hands and leave you for what? You can’t be on site…So if you are not working, pack your things out of that site”, Umahi said.
In his remarks, the Director, Highways (SP) South, Engr. C. A Ogbuagu, gave an account of the technical processes undertaken by the ministry before the Federal Executive Council approved the augmentation of the project, which the contractors accepted, and letters of the award were given to them.
He wondered why the contractors refused to sign the new document.
He said,” After the FEC approved the argumentation, the legal department was brought in so that this new contract will now be executed so that work will continue on site. So, for about two weeks now, the draft addendum has been with the contractors, and none of them has positively responded, except RCC.”
