Umahi stops payments to South East road contractors

The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi has stopped some road construction in the South East pending the review of the existing and additional contracts. Umahi gave the directive on Thursday in Enugu during the inspection of some ongoing construction/rehabilitation of federal roads across states in the South-East. The minister expressed dismay that four bridges and three kilometres of additional work were costing N15 billion. “I have directed directors in the ministry to sit with the contractors and review it. “I strongly believe that there is no way that the project will cost us more than three to four billion naira, and when a project is too expensive, and the budgeting process is very low, then contractors will remain on site for 10 to 15 years,” he said. Some of the roads inspected included the Ozalla- Akpugo-Amangunze-Isu Onicha (Enugu-Onitsha) with a spur to Onunwere in Enugu State done by Arab Contractors and rehabilitation of Old Enugu- Onitsha Road also done by Arab Contractors. Others were the construction of the Nenwe-Nomeh-Mburubu -Nara Road with a spur from Obeagu-Oduma road, Enugu State, Rehabilitation of Nsukka -Ikem, Eha Amufu – Nkalagu in Ebonyi State among others. Umahi commended the quality of work done on some of the roads in Enugu, adding that he stopped certain payments until contractors, and the ministry reviewed the existing contracts and additional works. The former Ebonyi governor said he stopped payment of RCC and Arab Contractors until they all sit down to review the cost of the projects and methods of construction. He also said because of funding he had directed works on spots should come in the second phase to enable contractors to complete carriage ways first. He equally directed the contractor handling the Mmaku road seven days to return to the site to cover the binder course. He also directed that the right-hand side of the Enugu-Onitsha expressway be done with concrete to save costs. “I discovered something unprofessional where contractors put a binder course and leave it up to five to eight years, and within that period, the binder course fails. “Henceforth, no contractor will leave the binder course for more than one month without covering it because the binder course admits water which affects subgrade. “It is not healthy for contractors as they lose money for the equipment they are using to maintain the work,” he said. The binder course is an intermediate, bitumen-bound aggregate layer placed between the base layer and the surface of an asphalt pavement. The minister explained that Nigerian roads failed because of the bad asphalt placed on them as a result of adulterated bitumen imported into the country.  According to him, most of our roads are not failing because of sub-base or subgrade but fail because of bad asphalt placed on them. “So the fight of turning to concrete is a continuous one, and we will not give up until our roads are able to last up to 30 years to 40 years without maintenance when built. “At Enugu section three to Port Harcourt section 3, I have also directed that the second carriage be totally done on concrete as we are safer with concrete in southeast roads,” he said. To buttress his point on the concrete road, Umahi, who took newsmen to Nigercem – the first cement factory in Nigeria, said the factory road built in 1950 with concrete was still stable as well as other roads in Nkalagu built with concrete seven years ago. “This is what we are advocating and basically, South East, South-South, and South-West roads shall be on concrete because of their terrain,” he said.

2nd Abuja Airport Runway: We’ll pay N825.8m compensation –Wike

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Mr Nyesom Wike, says the FCT Administration (FCTA) will pay N825.8 million as compensation for the construction of second runway for Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. Wike stated this in Abuja on Tuesday, while briefing newsmen at the end of a closed-door meeting with members of the Jiwa community and other stakeholders. He said that the amount would be paid through the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) for compensation and resettlement of the people of the community affected by the project. He added that as part of the incentive, 12 people from the community would be employed by the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development and its agencies and 10 by FCTA. He added that the government would also construct the Tunga Madaki bridge along with a five-kilometre road from the bridge to the community for easy movement of the people. The minister explained that the project would be captured in the 2024 budget of the FCTA. Wike also said that FCTA would equally provide a modern health facility to provide quality health care services for people of the community. He said that an undertaking would be signed based on the agreement between the government and the community. He identified the signatories as the permanent secretaries of FCTA and ministry of aviation, the Chief of Jiwa, the Chairman, Abuja Municipal Council and the Commissioner, Public Complaint Commission. “If that is done today, and tomorrow or next tomorrow the money is paid to them, contractors will no longer delay. They have to move to the site immediately and commence work. “So, the second runway has come to stay,” he said. He said that the current administration was determined to ensure that the second runway was delivered. He commended the Chief of Jiwa, Alhaji Isa Idris, for mobilising his people to attend the meeting to resolve the crises. His counterpart, Mr Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, said that he met the issue on his table, adding that the project ought to have been delivered in July. Keyamo said that the contractors could not be mobilised because of the issue of compensation. Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, FCTA, Mr Olusade Adesola, said that the completion of the project requires the support of all relevant stakeholders. Adesola commended Wike for the intervention to ensure a quick resolution of the issue. Dr Emmanuel Meribole, Permanent Secretary, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, said that the project was approved by the Federal Executive Council in March 2022. Meribole said that the project was awarded to four contractors in April, with CCECC Nigeria Limited as the major contractor. He, however, said that the project was stalled because of the disagreement over compensation to the affected community members. Earlier, the Chief of Jiwa, said that the ministry of aviation through its consultant had earlier pegged the compensation at N2.5 million per hectare, for the 12,000 hectares allocated for the project. Idris further said that the amount was later reviewed downward to N700,000 per hectare when FCTA took over the discussion as the rightful authority to determine how much compensation to be paid. He said that the community took the matter to the Public Complaint Commission with a view to resolve the issue amicably. The community leader said that his people were concerned that the N700,000 being offered per hectare would not be enough for the affected persons to acquire another land.

We’ll deliver millennium tower project in 2 years –Wike

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr Nyesom Wike declared that the ministry will deliver the Millennium Tower project in the next two years. Wike stated this in Abuja after a closed-door meeting with contractors handling different projects in the FCT. The Millennium Tower at Central Area, Abuja, is a multifunctional edifice with facilities for cultural exposition, tourism, socialisation, recreation, hospitality, and commercial activities. The project is being handled by Salini Construction Nigeria Limited but was abandoned due to lack of funds. He said that the tower was a very important project that would change the landscape of Abuja city. “It is a very ambitious project, but again if we are talking of Abuja being one of the best cities in the world, then we must have such a facility. “I can tell you it is not easy to go into that project, but we have decided that whatever it takes, it is going to be one of the legacy projects for President Bola Tinubu. “In fact, we are looking at the next two years, if the way we are going to structure our payment is agreeable with the contractor,” Wike said. NAN reports that the project, conceived in 2005 had reached 40 per cent completion, and is expected to, upon completion, self-finance itself from revenues generated from all the commercial activities in the complex. The scope of the project comprises a cultural centre with four museums, an expansive arcade consisting of 40,000m2 platform for hosting national and other events. It also consists of a five-star hotel with 55 luxury rooms and nine suites for about 130 persons, offices, passive and active recreational facilities, 1200 capacity auditorium, conference rooms, Others are exhibition halls, shops, a sport centre with an indoor pool, gyms, fitness, squash courts and a two-level 1,200 capacity basement car park. The millennium tower itself is a 170-meter-tall structure accommodating a revolving panoramic restaurant for more than 130 diners. The minister added that a careful analysis of all the awarded contracts with the contractors and his team have revealed that most of the projects were abandoned for lack of funds. “The Minister of State, myself, the permanent secretary, and directors have concluded that it is not possible to carry on with the entire projects in the FCT. “Therefore, we agreed to take them in order of priority. We have tried to work out most of the projects being handled by Julius Berger and agreed to see that these projects are fully completed,” he said. Wike added that the Villa Roundabout being handled by China Geo-engineering Corporation (CGC) Nigeria Limited, would be completed in the next six to eight months. He equally said that the ministry would ensure the completion of the projects being handled by Cetraco Nigeria Ltd, and also put a facelift on Garki, Wuse and part of Maitama in the next one week. He said that the contractors would be mobilised immediately, adding that Asokoro would equally have a facelift in no distant time. On the Abuja light rail rehabilitation project, the minister said that an agreement has been concluded with CCECC Nigeria Limited to give them their money in the next two days so they can go to work. “We are also discussing with the company on the operation cost, because it will not be good to rehabilitate and then you cannot operate. “We have told them that on Thursday, we are going to meet to talk about the operation cost,” he said. Wike pointed out that part of the problems of the projects was because they were not being funded by the national budget. He said that in view of the funding challenge, the ministry would pick some projects that could be completed within a specific period and then decide on what to do again in the following year.