FEDERAL MINSTRY OF WORKS ADOPTS MORE WORKEABLE MEASURES TO END DELAYS OF CONTRACTORS IN PROJECT DELIVERY, EXPRESSES COMMITMENT TO CREATIVITY, INNOVATIONS AND THINKING OUT OF THE BOX TO MEET THE ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS OF NIGERIANS
As part of strategic infrastructure development masterplan of the Renewed Hope administration of His Excellency President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, the Federal Government has adopted workeable measures to end the old order of unnecessary delays in the execution of road infrastructure projects by contractors and has taken steps to rejig the monstrous contract price variation clause which has been a major clog in the wheel of progress of project execution over the years.
This was contained in the briefing of the Honourable Minister of Works, His Excellency Sen. Engr. Nweze David Umahi CON, during a meeting with contractors handling Federal Government's projects, held at the Ministry's Headquarters, Mabushi-Abuja on 10th June 2024.
The Honourable Minister expressed the urgency of thinking realistically, creatively, innovatively, and thinking out of the square to overcome the funding challenges that face road infrastructure development in Nigeria.
He narrated, " 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 further stated that in looking for a solution, the Ministry sought for and got Mr. President's 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.
The new projects under the 2024 projects, including the constituency projects of the National Assembly, also have poor budgetary allocations.
In tackling responsibly the challenges of funding, price variation, and delays in projects delivery, the Honourable Minister introduced responsive approaches which were adopted as the Ministry's measures to overcome the challenges of road infrastructure development in Nigeria.
Such measures include but are not limited to reviewing the VOP clause to ensure workability in line with the economic realities, making it a policy that all contractors handling two carriageway projects (with the exemption of the 3 legacy projects) must first complete one side of the two carriageways and thereafter continue with the second part subject to availability of fund, advancement of funds after award of contract is subject to conditions contained in the bid document, going forward.
Other measures adopted were that contractors must have a timeline for project delivery, and every contractor shall have a duty to 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, all projects that have no funding shall be stood down, but projects will be selected Zone by zone or State by State for funding.
In applying these measures, he emphasized that all contractors will be treated equally. "One thing that is 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, insofar as you can turn cement to the right grade and place it rightly. You're a good contractor; we check, and it's good."
The Honourable Minister noted the various projects completed by contractors and other major ones to be ready for commissioning from July, 2024 and directed the Directors in charge of each Geo-Political Zone to officially and publicly commission the various projects completed in their respective Zones.
He further directed that committees made up of the Ministry's Engineers and the Media correspondents be set up to pay inspection visits to the respective 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.
