In keeping with the directive of the Federal Executive Council with respect to all inherited and new projects being handled by a number of multi national companies being delayed due to issues of price differentials or poor funding, the Federal Ministry of Works has opened a decisive discussion with Julius Berger Plc on all the inherited and new projects handled by them with a view to appraising their performance and take decisions on funding and milestones completion of all such awarded projects.
This was contained in a press statement signed by Mr. Orji Uchenna Orji, the Special Adviser on Media to the Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi.
According to the statement, the decision is a part of the measures of the Renewed Hope administration to mitigate the sufferings of road users at this moment of economic challenges.
He said “This was the outcome of the crucial meeting of the Ministry with the management of Julius Berger Plc held at the Ministry’s Headquarters, Mabushi-Abuja on 7th August 2024.”
Speaking on the resolutions reached during the meeting, the Honourable Minister of Works, Umahi, CON reiterated the firmness of the Ministry on issues of price control, commitment of contractors to project execution, value for money, and uniform pricing location by location.
He decried the unacceptable conditions of some of the inherited and new projects of all ongoing federal roads awarded to Julius Berger Plc, which are within the economic corridor of the nation and which were being delayed due to issues of price differentials or lack of effective funding.
He listed the projects affected to include: the 82km by 2 dualization of section of Abuja-Kaduna- Zaria- Kano Highway currently handled by Julius Berger; phase 2 of Lagos-Ibadan expressway, whose pavement elements had been changed from asphalt to concrete; section 2A bypass at the 2nd Niger Bridge whose pavement element was changed to concrete; the Bodo-bonny road funded by NLNG Tax Credit; the under deck structural works at 3rd Mainland bridge, Iddo bridge and Carter Bridge.
The Honourable Minister urged the contractor to be open to a mutually agreed modality for milestone execution and funding of the projects at reviewed rates as may be agreed upon and approved by Federal Executive Council.
He said,” Our job is to develop this mechanism based on FEC directives, and engage with the Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, and finally we take our recommendations back to Mr. President, and of course FEC for consideration.”
On the section of Abuja Kaduna- Zaria-Kano road agreed to be handled by Julius Berger Plc, he commended the quality of work being done but directed the contractor to stick to one carriageway at a time within the scope and conclude their works.
The contractor was further directed to, within three weeks, fill the two carriageways with stone base and level it to alleviate the sufferings of road users.
“We agreed that this project, within their own corridor, will last for 14 months. Project execution should be deployed in four sections, and we’ll be paying Berger ₦20 billion every month to get the job completed,” he said.
On the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, phase 2, he said the Ministry had no choice but to determine the contract and ask Bureau of Public Procurement for No Objection for selective tendering.
He recalled, “We changed the elements of the pavement from asphalt to concrete, and the total cost we came up with based on prevailing cost is ₦153 billion. But they are offering ₦258 billion. Since we’ve been on this since September 2023, we have no choice but to determine this contract. And then we ask BPP for No Objection for selective tendering, whereby we will be sending our own advice of ₦153 billion to BPP, and we send their own of ₦258 billion to BPP, and then we invite other contractors to also bid. This we will conclude within the next one month so that we can get that job concluded.”. On the Second Niger Bridge Bypass handled by Julius Berger Plc, he said, “one of the bypasses, which is 17.27 kilometers by two on asphalt was awarded to Julius Berger. We changed the pavement elements to concrete and the cost that we came up with was ₦133 billion. Berger almost gave us more than twice our cost, which is ₦279 billion. We have disagreed with this cost at the time of negotiation since September 2023. We’ve also decided to get the project back to BPP and invite more contractors to bid because this is public fund”.
On the Bodo-Bonny project being funded by NLNG Tax Credit, the Honourable Minister expressed concerns that Julius Berger Plc, though had mobilized back to site after additional cost of N80 billon was approved for the work, but reports showed that their pace of work was slow.
The minister was worried that the contractor came up with a longer timeline of 16 months within which to deliver the project against the December 2024 deadline proposed by the Ministry.
He said, “Finally, we agreed on an additional cost of ₦80 billion, which will bring the project to about ₦280 billion fixed and non-varying with the unit rates agreed, and we agreed that this project will not increase in cost beyond ₦280 billion”. He urged the contractor to shift ground to a shorter timeline for the sake of the people.
Concerning the under deck structural works at 3rd Mainland Bridge, Iddo bridge, Carter Bridge in Lagos State, he commended the contractor for doing fantastic work.
He said,” We have no problems on pricing. We’ve paid 30% due to the intervention of Mr. President. They’re working, and we’ve directed that each time they put a certificate and we still have funds, we will pay within seven days because this job they’re doing is very critical. For 53 years, those bridges were constructed, no maintenance, and so the deterioration is so horrible and frightening. Right now, we’ve closed the 3rd Mainland Bridge against big ttrucks.”
On the Odukpani road in Cross River State, Umahi said that the ministry had got approval from the Federal Executive Council to increase the project by ₦36 billion, thereby raising the project cost from ₦54 billion to ₦90 billion.
“This was just approved for a few days ago. We want to know their response on that. Yes, we have agreed to change the pavement to concrete, and our position is that they have to engage on one carriageway when we agree on this. It is when we agree on all these ones where that we do not have complete funding that we can enter into the second phase of what FEC directed, and that is to discuss the mechanism”, he said.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Yakubu Adam Kofarmata, PhD, stated that some of the ongoing road projects handled by contractors required emergency works to alleviate the sufferings of road users and assured that all the supervising engineers would be on their toes to ensure that the Ministry’s policy of Operation Free the Roads was carried out by all the contractors handling federal government roads nationwide.
On the section of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Highway handled by Julius Berger Plc, the minister said, “we have requested this emergency work due to the flow of information and the requests that we’ve been getting from Nigerians plying Abuja to Kano, more especially Abuja to Kaduna road, where a number of big craters have been created on that road”.
