Abuja-Kaduna Road: Reps threaten to revoke contract, insist on May 2021 deadline

 
The House of Representatives Committee on Works has threatened to demand the revocation of the Abuja-Kaduna road contract if it is not delivered by next year.
The lawmakers are dissatisfied over the delay in the execution of the project by the Contractor Julius Berger PLC.
The committee said it might be forced to ask the government to reaward the contract to several other contractors to ensure that the project is completed within the life span of the Buhari government.
“We are disappointed that after about 27 months since the commencement of work on the project, only less than 10 per cent of the work has been completed”, the Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Kabir Abubakar said on Thursday.
Mr Abubakar (APC-Kano) who spoke on the progress of work so far carried out while inspecting the project as part of the Committee’s oversight function, insisted that the contractors must deliver on the contract by May 2021 which is the terminal date for the contract.
He said that “the House will not accept any extension of the completion date or a variation of the project”.
He added that “it is disappointing that with only nine months left on the contract, there is no satisfactory progress on the work.”
However, the North Central Zonal Director of Works in the Federal Ministry of Works, Engr. Kunle Yusuf told the Committee that 40 per cent of the work on section one of the project (Abuja-Kaduna) covering about 62 kilometres has been completed even when work was yet to commence on over 100 kilometres of the road.
Section one of the Project is about 165 kilometres.
Rep. Kabir said in spite of the lack of funding for the project as attested to by the contractors, they have not shown any form of seriousness in completing the project saying “N155 billion is no small money”.
He warned that if the company lacks the capacity to deliver the project on schedule, it should be revoked and re-awarded to several other companies, so that it will be completed on time.
According to him “as a result of the delay in completing the project, several lives have been lost on the road, and we cannot continue to lose lives on this road.”
Other members of the committee,also complained about the pace and quality of work being done by the contractors as well as lack of safety measures at the construction site.
Kaduna Political Affairs