By Juliana Ekong
In a bid to tackle the challenges of road infrastructure development in Nigeria. the Minister of Works, Engineer David Umahi, has introduced new approaches such as, reviewing the VOP clause to ensure workability in line with the economic realities, policy that will mandate all contractors handling two carriageway projects( with the exemption of the 3 legacy projects) to first complete one side of the two carriageways and thereafter continue with the second part subject to availability of fund, advance funds after award of contract depending on the agreement contained in the bid document.
Others are, contractors must have a timeline for project delivery and every contractor shall maintain the road under construction until the entire project is completed and delivered, a deadline shall be given for all ongoing projects and with time, but stressed that, all projects that have no funding shall be stood down, at while projects will be selected Zone by zone or State by State for funding.
In applying these measures, Engineer Umahi emphasized that all contractors will be treated equally. ” One thing is, and I quote, ” our policy is that no contractor in the Ministry of Works will be treated differently. Whether you’re an indigenous contractor or you’re a foreign contractor, in – so -far as you can turn cement to the right grade and place it rightly. You’re a good contractor; we check, and it’s good.”
At a meeting with contractors handling Federal Government’s projects, held at the Ministry’s Headquarters, Mabushi-Abuja on 10th June 2024, Engr David Umahi, expressed the urgency of thinking realistically, creatively, innovatively, and thinking out of the box to overcome the funding challenges facing road infrastructure development in Nigeria.
” When the Renewed Hope administration came on board on 29th May 2023, Mr. President inherited over 2600 ongoing projects from the past administration amounting to over N15 trillion, out of which only about N2 trillion was certified and paid. And so, ” we now have ongoing projects of N13 trillion, including budgetary projects, NNPCL, SUKUK, Presidential Initiative Development Projects, other Tax Credit Scheme Projects of NLNG, MTN,Dangote, BUA, Mainstream and projects under EPC +F, PPP” He stated that the aftermaths of fuel subsidy and the forex forces affected drastically the contract cost elements and pricing of which Variation on Price( VOP) could not provide a remedy especially for jobs awarded so many years ago, and where VOP on contracts was sometimes hitting 500% “. He narrated
To solve the problem, the Ministry got President Tinubu approval to give an envelope in the 2024 budgetary provision to keep all the inherited projects alive, believing that, more funding of such projects could come by thinking outside the box, pointing out that, the new projects in the year 2024, including the constituency projects of the National Assembly, also have poor budgetary allocations.
The Honourable Minister noted, the various projects completed by contractors and other major ones will be ready for commissioning from July, 2024 and Directors in charge of each Geo-Political Zones have been directed to officially and publicly commission the various projects completed in their Zones.
” Committees made up of the Ministry’s Engineers and the Media correspondents should inspect the zones to assess the level of project performance in all the federal government projects being handled by the Federal Ministry of Works under the Renewed Hope administration.