The Federal Government has opened a decisive discussion with Julius Berger Plc on inherited and new road projects handled by them with a view to appraising their performance.
Also to take decisions on funding and milestones completion of all such awarded projects, as part of measures of Renewed Hope administration to mitigate sufferings of road users at this moment of economic challenges.
This was the outcome of the crucial meeting of the Works Ministry with the management of Julius Berger Plc in Abuja on recently in line with the directive of Federal Executive Council to all inherited and new projects being handled by multi national companies, delayed due to issues of price differentials, poor funding.
Speaking on the resolutions reached during the meeting, the Minister, Sen. Engr. Nweze David Umahi, 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.
The Minister listed the projects affected to include: the 82km by 2 dualization of section of Abuja-Kaduna- Zaria- Kano highway handled by the 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.
He said,” Our job is to develop this mechanism based on FEC directives, and engage with the 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 carriage way at a time within the scope and conclude their works.
The contractor was further directed to, within three weeks, fill the two carriage ways with stone base and level it to alleviate the sufferings of road users.
He further said, “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 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’ve 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 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.
He was further worried that they 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, he said, “We have got approval from Federal Executive Council to increase their 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”.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Yakubu Adam Kofarmata, stated that some of the ongoing road projects handled by contractors required emergency works to alleviate the sufferings of road users.
He assured that all the supervising engineers would be on their toes to ensure that the Ministry’s policy of Operation Free our 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, he said, “we have requested this emergency work due to flow of information and 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”.