FG To Finance Numan Jalingo Rd with N3bn Sukuk Fund –Sambo ………Says people of Taraba are happy with FG internal road works in Jalingo The Honourable Minister of State for Works and Housing, Mr. Mu'azu Jaji Sambo said there is a provision of N3bn Sukuk fund in year 2022 by the Federal Government to finance the Numan- Jalingo Road in Adamawa and Taraba States, adding that once the Sukuk fund is accessed shortly there would be remarkable progress at the construction site. He made the disclosure during his working tour to the rehabilitation of the road and other road projects in Taraba and Adamawa States. The Minister said that, “The 103-kilometer Numan-Jalingo Road is part of the Maiduguri –Calabar Highway. The section of the road that is not motorable is not acceptable. The road is the only connection between the North and South on the North Eastern axis of the country." Sambo said the people of Taraba State are very appreciative and delighted with the 80 housing units commissioned in Taraba State this week by President Muhammadu Buhari and they are very calm and happy with the ongoing works on township roads in Jalingo. The township roads: Hassan,Yelwa and DSS are three critical roads in Jalingo   which have defied all the civilians administrations in Taraba State since 1999. Sambo said that the successful works on the internal roads in Jalingo, the Taraba State Capital has given the people the hope that this current administration is capable of delivering the Numan -Janligo Road. He remarked   that he wouldn’t blame the contractor for the slow pace of work, saying it was due to the insufficient budgetary provision in the past and covid -19 pandemic that affected the progress of work. He said, however, with the current improved funding provision the contractor was expected to service its equipment and be more serious on the construction work. He added that if the company was found not to have the capacity to complete the job, government would not hesitate to terminate the contract and re-award it to a competent one. While briefing the Honorable Minister on the progress of work on the Numan- Jalingo Road Project, a Senior Civil Engineer at the site, Engr. Maria Kenneth Zirrah representative of the Federal Controller of Works Adamawa State said insecurity, lack of construction materials and funding were responsible for the slow pace of work on the road project. The Project Engineer of Deux Project Limited, the contractor for the Numan-Jalingo Road Project, Engr. Frank Koshihuk who spoke on behalf of the contractor said inflation, funding, insecurity were the major challenges on the construction of the road project. He promised that as soon as the funding pattern for the rehabilitation works improved, the work would be completed within 8months. The Minister of State also inspected the construction of Zing –Yakoko-Monkin Road in Taraba State during his 2-day working inspection visit. ...

HDMI: Works And Housing Ministry Concludes Evaluation For First Phase Of The Value-Added Concession’s RFP Submissions The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing has concluded evaluating proposals submitted for phase one of the Value-Added Concession (VAC) under the Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI). The HDMI is a PPP initiative of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing that seeks to attract sustainable investment and funding in the development of road infrastructure and maximize the use of assets along the Right of Way (ROW) of federal highways in the country. The first phase of the VAC under the HDMI seeks to concession 12 economically viable road corridors to technically and financially capable private sector firms/consortia. The 12 highways represent 1,963km or 5.6% of Nigeria’s 35,000km Federal Highway as follows: Benin-Asaba, Abuja-Lokoja, Kano-Katsina, Onitsha-Owerri-Aba, Sagamu-Benin and Abuja-Keffi-Akwanga Highways; the others are Kano-Maiduguri (Kano-Shuarin), Kano-Maiduguri (Potiskum-Damaturu), Lokoja-Benin, Enugu-Port Harcourt, Ilorin-Jebba, Lagos-Otta-Abeokuta and Lagos-Badagry-Seme Border. The Value-Added Concession Request for Proposal (RFP) Evaluation Report was presented and approved on Thursday, April 21, at the Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting chaired by the Minister of Works & Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN.  Members of the PSC from the Ministries of Works & Housing, Environment, Finance, Budget & National Planning and Justice, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, and Bureau of Public Enterprises attended the meeting. Speaking, the Head, PPP Unit, FMWH, Abimbola Asein, disclosed that the Project Delivery Team (PDT) had concluded the evaluation of the Bidders' technical and Financial proposals and proposed Preferred/Reserved Bidders had been identified.  She, however, explained that the HDMI Project Steering Committee (PSC) reserves the right to disqualify any Preferred Bidder found to have supplied inaccurate or misleading information, following due diligence or is unable to reach a mutual agreement on the Project's Technical and Financial Parameters. After deliberating on the prayers presented by the PDT, the PSC approved the prayers and adopted amendments agreed on during the meeting.  The PSC reiterated the importance of due diligence on the preferred bidders and recommended the constitution of a team made up of high-ranking officials from the relevant Ministries, noting that this would help achieve value for money for Nigeria during negotiations.      The rationale behind the HDMI, a private sector engagement, is to provide alternative sources of financing for road development and management in the country. It is consistent with the provisions of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) Establishment Act 2005; National Policy on Public-Private Partnership ("N4P"); Federal Highways Act CAP. 135, 1971; and Federal Roads and Bridges Tolling Policy.  The scope of the VAC under the HDMI includes the expansion, re-alignment, rehabilitation, and maintenance of the existing road pavements and bridges; construction of interchanges and pedestrian crossings and construction and operations of tolling facilities.  There is also the installation and operations of weighbridges; installation and operation of intelligent traffic systems for remote highway monitoring; physical patrol of the highway; provision of towing services, ambulance service, and refuse management. Others include the provision of directional signage, rest areas, and highway illumination, amongst others. The Request for Qualification (RFQ) Notice was published on March 29, 2021, through the HDMI Portal. At the close of the RFQ portal on May 31 2021, 75 firms/Consortia successfully submitted valid applications.  An Inter-Ministerial Evaluation Committee evaluated the 75 submitted bids, wherein 18 firms / Consortia were prequalified, having met all the criteria outlined in the RFQ notice. The RFP documents were then issued out to the 18 prequalified bidders on October 29, 2021, through the HDMI portal.  The deadline was February 22, 2022, while documents from the 18 bidders were officially opened during the RFP Bid opening ceremony held on February 23, 2022. The Project is now at the Due Diligence Stage and will be followed by Negotiation of Technical and Financial Parameters. The Negotiated Parameters will be populated in the Full Business Case (FBC) to be forwarded to ICRC for FBC Compliance Certificate.  The Compliance Certificate will be presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for consideration and approval. If approved, the Concession Agreement will be vetted by the Federal Ministry of Justice within a stipulated time frame to enable Commercial Close. ...

Bashir Nura Alkali Resumes Office As New Permanent Secretary For Works Ministry The newly appointed Permanent Secretary of Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr. Bashir Nura Alkali has resumed duty following the recent approval and redeployment of Permanent Secretaries in the Federal Civil Service by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR. The Permanent Secretary in his taking over speech at the Ministry’s Headquarters Conference Room, Mabushi, Abuja yesterday appealed for the support of the management and staff of the Ministry to move the Ministry forward. Alkali expressed hope that the cordial relationship he had with the staff and management at Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development would be the same and better in Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. He added, ‘’Every Civil Servant would want to come to this Ministry because of its activities and programmes. ‘’Every Civil Servant will want to come to Federal Ministry of Works and Housing because the experience there is huge and challenging and by extension if you could manage in the Ministry, I believe you could manage anywhere in Nigeria,’’ he said. The Permanent Secretary, pledged to work with the directors and staff he met on ground and to assist the Honourable Ministers in carrying out the mandate assigned to them. ‘’I will say I’m here to work and from what I had been told and seen we have excellent directors and staff that are going to assist in this job. I was just telling the Minister that our job as Permanent Secretaries is to assist the Ministers implement and deliver the mandate of the Ministry and I believe that is what we are going to do,’’ he said. He assured of paying attention to issues brought to his attention by staff with a view to addressing them’’. I assure you that I’m a listener, I will listen to everybody but I will not be able to solve each and every problem of individuals’’, he said. Mr. Bashir Nura Alkali had worked in Ministries of Justice, Police Affairs, the State House. His last posting was at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development as the Permanent Secretary before his deployment to Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. Earlier in his remarks, Engr. Chukwunwike Ogbonna Uzo, Director Overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary welcomed the new Permanent Secretary, and said that it was his first time for over thirty-three years of service to witness a Permanent Secretary taken over in a Ministry and all his former directors accompanying him. That tells you the kind of person the new Permanent Secretary is. ‘The people he is leaving behind are not happy losing him. But it is a gain to us in Federal Ministry of Works and Housing,’’ said Engr. Uzo. Uzo handed over two sets of hand over notes. That of the former Permanent Secretary and that of when he acted as the Director, Overseeing the Permanent Secretary’s Office.   ...