Paucity of fund is not the major challenge to the completion of ongoing federal government’s road projects, Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola has declared
He spoke to reporters yesterday in Port Harcourt after an inspection tour of ongoing road projects in the South-South zone.
“There is no problem of paucity of fund on this road again; this road is now a function of man hours.
“If you have all the money needed to construct this road, you would not finish it today.
“So let us understand that these roads are built long and wide, and so will take years to be completed because roads are connecting several states.
“As we are building, it will get better but funding is not going to be a problem on this road again because we make sure that the contractor are paid,” he said.
He said the contractors handling the road projects would be paid based on presentation of certificate of performance.
Fashola cautioned contractors against the use of budgetary provisions as excuse not to be on site, adding that the budget had not solved the problem in the past.
“As at the time we had money, when a barrel of oil sells for 100 dollars per barrel, we did not take the issue of roads seriously, because the capital budget then use to be 15 per cent.
“It is Buhari’s administration that is increasing capital budget to 30 per cent, which means that this government is taking the issue of roads seriously and that is why we are here.
“Contractors are coming to site after three years of lay off and as you pay a contractor, you are invariably bring people back to work, and that is the commitment that I made,” he said.
The minister expressed dismay over failure of the past administration to fund the projects it originated.
“You heard the contractors saying they were not able to continue with the projects because funds were not released until December, 2016.
“You also heard from all the sites we visited that contractors were not paid for three to four years and that was at a time we were having income of 100 dollars per barrel of oil.
“People were laid off by the contractors. They could not continue the projects, so the foundation for the recession was built three years.
“In spite of the fall in oil income, the Buhari government is now saying that whatever it will take, we must pay contractors and that is why they have all returned to sit,” he added.
The projects visited by the minister during tour in Rivers were the Aba-Port Harcourt dual carriage way and the Bodo-Bonny bridge projects.
The minister said the Bodo-Bonny bridge when completed would be the only road linking the people of Ogoni land to Bonny Island.
He said the project was awarded several years ago but the contractor abandoned the site because it was not funded.
He said the federal government made provision to finance the project in partnership with the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) in the 2017 budget proposal.
Tag: Road projects
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Paucity of fund not major challenge to completion of road projects – Fashola
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Lack of fund threatens 177 road projects, says Works minister
The Federal Ministry of Works will stop work on about 177 road and bridge projects in the 2015 fiscal year due to paucity of funds, Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, has said.
Onolememen, who spoke during a presentation at the Senate Committee on Works’ budget defence in Abuja, said no provision was made for capital allocation for the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation (OSGF) for the 2015 fiscal year.
About N39, 579,312,175 was proposed as 2015 budget for the ministry and its parastatals for both capital and recurrent expenditure.
Of the amount, N11,232,000,000 was proposed as capital budget for the ministry.
In 2014, N45,682,844,395 was released to the ministry as at December 2014, of a capital allocation of N98,814,368,704.
The minister told the committee that “in view of the lean allocation for the ministry in the 2015 budget, only road and bridge projects have been considered.”
He added: “Of the ministry’s portfolio of about 210 ongoing road and bridge projects, 33 have been provided for and the provisions are insufficient to encourage the contractors to sustain appreciable progress of work on site.”
Onolememen said “no provision have been made for other departments of the ministry, such as Road and Bridge Design Department, Mechanical and Electrical Department and Service Department.
He noted that in line with the 2015 Budget Circular and given the lean envelop for capital projects, emphasis would be on maintaining the minimum level of activity on the project sites where provisions were made in the proposed budget.
He said some of the key projects and those awarded in 2014 earmarked for attention included rehabilitation of Lagos-Sagamu-Ibadan dual carriageway, sections 1 &11 in Lagos/Oyo States; rehabilitation of Enugu-Port Harcourt dual carriageway, sections 1&11; dualisation of Obajana Junction to Benin phase 2, sections 1-1V; dualisation of Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja, sections 1,111,1V; dualisation of Kano-Maiduguri, sections 1-V and others.
The minister said the challenge to the timely completion of projects was inadequate budgetary provisions for projects and the non-release of budgeted funds.
“This underscores the need for diversification of the sources of funding for highway projects,” he said.
Chairman of the committee stressed the need for alternative funding of critical projects, considering the dwindling oil revenue.
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Road projects thrill Enugu communities
Chris Oji
Their joy knew no bounds when the state government initiated road projects in their communities. The people of Umuaga and Umuabi in Udi Local Government Council said their prayers had been answered. The roads had been a huge concern to them. So as it was clear that their nightmares were soon to be over, they started praising Governor Sullivan Chime, even nicknaming him the Great Transformer.
The 14.5 km roads cut across the two communities and connect them with Achi and other communities in Oji-River Local Government.
Representive of the governor at the flag-off, the state commissioner for Works, Engr. Godwin Madueke, said the the flag-off was in fulfilment of Governor Chime’s promise to provide access roads to all local government headquarters and agricultural areas in the state.
Madueke disclosed that the cost of the contract from Amokwe Station to Umuabi Road project which is 7km is N1.216 billion while Amokwe Station to Umuaga Road which is 7.5km, will cost N1.217billion. All will be completed in 12 months.
The commissioner stated that there different levels of supervision in order to ensure that standard specifications were adhered to in the execution of contract and they include the resident engineer, directot of highways, multiphase consultant and the commissioner who would visit the project from time to time.
He solicited the assistance of the people and residents of the communities in locating a borrow pit for laterite and in protecting the road by not burning inflammable materials like trys as well as dumping refuse in the drains to avoid drain overflowing to the road surface.
Madueke appealed to the communities to bring whatever complaints they have to the ministry, explaining that payments to the contractor would be made based on the certificates generated or work done.
The permanent secretary in the ministry of works who is an indigene of one of the communities, Innocent Onyia confiemed that the people of Umuaga and Umuabi had been yearning for rescue from the state government from the deplorable state of their roads.
Onyia was optimstic that with the flagoof of work on the roads, the people would hope hope of improving in their economic and social lives. “This explains our gratitude to His Excellency, Barrister Sullivan Chime, governor of Enugu State over the road projects. The people will be more grateful if the two roads are extended to link them with neighbouring communities in Awgu and Oji-River local government areas.”
A retired High Court judge from one of the communities in Umuabi, Justice Francis Ezeike described Chime’s gesture as fantastic, adding, “We fought for it before and after the civil war, several governments and administrators kept promising us of fixing this road, but none of them achieved it. We are grateful to God that Governor Sullivan Chime has achieved it.”
In thie same vein, special adviser to Governor Chime on special matters, Ndubuisi Ugwueze was full of praises to the governor saying, “It is a great day for the people of Umuaga because we have never had it loke this before as we are known as the best producers of palmwine, palmoil and palm kernel.”
Chairman of Umuabi stakeholders and General Coordinator, Total Mandate for Governor Sullivan, Charlie Chime said that his joy could not be quantified following the commencement of the road construction and commended Governor Chime for his gesture.
According to him, by constructing the roads, the governor has incresed the life span of the people of the community and the community was expressing total support to his government.
The leader of the women of the area, Mrs. Georgina Eze Ajaga expressed happiness over the projects as according to her, the roads would improve access for the transportation of abundant agricultural produce in the are to the urban for sale.
And the project manager of Greyline Nigeria Limited, the company handling the projects, Mohammed Kenaam assured that the company had all it takes to deliver quality jobs. “This is not a new case for us in road constructio. We have been in this are and the people know us and our camp is around here. I cannot make promises as what we have achieved is a testimony to our competence. Greyline Nigeria Limited is more than enough, we will fulfil our promise and we will finish the project by the grace of God as much as possible before 12 months.”
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Fashola endorses ongoing road projects
The Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, last Thursday, expressed satisfaction at the pace of work at the ongoing rehabilitation of Ejigbo-Isheri-Osun-Ijegun road and bridges. Fashola, who monitored the progress with members of the state executive council, said despite the complex nature of the project, the contractor has carried on with a good measure of speed.
According to him, when completed, the road and bridges which connect Ejigbo LCDA and Igando-Ikotun LCDA, would reduce journey time spent by residents around the area.
He said: “We are in Ijegun and in Ijedodo and this is the service that we are providing by trying to link Ejigbo to the other parts of Alimosho, Pipeline, Aboru and all of those long winding journeys. This road would significantly reduce journey time by a really long stretch when it is finally finished and we are inching along and making progress.”
The governor explained that the last time he checked the details on the road, it was really a bed of swamp, hence it required piles that were driven as long as 34 metres deep with about 1,022 piles driven into the depths to ensure an enduring bridge.
He described the construction process as a complex engineering work spread over a length of six kilometres and about 1.2 km of a network of bridges. He then sought to know from critics if the Isheri-Osun-Jakande Estate Road located in the innermost parts is also for the elites.
The governor was accompanied by Commissioners for Works and Infrastructure, Dr Obafemi Hamzat; Economic Planning and Budget, Mr Ben Akabueze; Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye; Establishments Training and Pensions, Mrs. Florence Oguntuashe and Special Adviser on Works and Infrastructure, Engineer Ganiyu Johnson, among others.
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Jonathan, South- East governors meet on roads’ projects
President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday night met with governors from the South East states and their leaders.
Although the agenda of the meeting was not made public, it was gathered that issues bothering on erosion and deplorable state of federal roads in the South East were some of the issues that dominated discussions.
Political issue and the recent security threat in the region also came up for discussion.
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting which lasted till about 12am, Anambra State governor, Mr Peter Obi, said they discussed the construction of the second Niger Bridge and road infrastructure in the region.
“We actually come to see the President to brief him on the situation of the South East and also mention one or two issues that are of concern to us and we had a very useful meeting.
“Some of the issues are personal to us but the issue that is of main concern to us is the issue of second Niger Bridge which the Minister of Works has been working very hard and has promised to deliver,” he said.
Describing the meeting as fruitful, the governor said the issue of roads, especially the Enugu – Port-Harcourt road and the Enugu Onitsha road came up for discussion.
Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, said the meeting afforded him the opportunity to brief the governors on the procurement of the second Niger Bridge.
He said: “You will recall that in December last year we commenced the procurement process for the Second Niger Bridge and we have achieved a milestone on that particular procurement till date.
“The transaction adviser was appointed a couple of months ago, a couple of months after, they submitted an inspection report on the project.
“About a week ago, the request for proposal was issued to the shortlisted consortia who are participating in the procurement process and that is expected to be turned in by the second week of December.
“After the analysis of the Record for Proposal by the various would be concessionaire, a successful concessionaire will be announced and that will be followed quickly by the financial closure.
“We are certain that base on our projection, that by the end of the first quarter of 2013 there will be a breaking of ground on the second Niger Bridge project, which means that the successful concessionaire for the project will be on site.”
The minister said the project would be driven under the Public –Private- Partnership arrangement.