Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Nyesome Wike, has decried the slow pace of work by contractors in executing Federal Capital Territory Administration’s (FCTA) projects.
The Minister disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja on Thursday, while on tour of abandoned and uncompleted projects in the capital city, as according to him, the FCTA would no longer tolerate such attitude and as well tie projects to Internally Generated Revenue.
Wike said: “It was unfortunate that while we went to the Ushafa-Bwari road, it was very embarrassing, and this is not what they are going to take. The job was awarded in 2017 at the cost of N20bn, in 2020 the revised the contract sum to N50bn.
“As I speak to you, we have paid almost N50bn, what is outstanding from what the man in charge has said is N900m, and now the N900m will not be enough to complete the job that they have done about 90percent and thereby we move to another variation. This is what we are not going to accept.
“Even the engineering service, we are going to overhaul the entire system. I have never seen a thing like this before in my life. What you see in FCDA contract variation from N10bn to N120bn, from N50bn to N200bn. It is alarming and I am not going to accept it.”
During the visit to the lower Usuma dam water treatment plant, he said that the contract for repairs of the plant was awarded via a mere letter of intent last year in August, but assured that funds would be given to the contractor on Friday to resume work on site.
He said: “Now, having come to the Usuma Water System, I was told that the contract has been awarded as an emergency contract. We just heard it now that it has not been awarded fully. Just a mere letter of intent to the contractor since last year August.
“We know the importance of this because it supplies water to our people in the city and this environment. Water is very important, so I have directed that it is not an emergency again, If something has happened since last year, you call it an emergency till now, it is no longer an emergency.
“If at all it was an emergency, we are going to start all over, and we are going to supervise the procurement process and we will allow other companies to bid as far as this project is concerned. So, it is alarming.
“We are choosing about 10 contracts if not more than that. We have called the companies and we have agreed. While the Executive Secretary of FCDA is not here is because I directed him not to join us and ensure that all the files are approved since last week, go to the director of Treasury and payment must be made latest tomorrow (Friday).
“Then we are signing with those companies, in essence, we have introduced an ISPO to bind our project to our internally generated revenue. So, at the end of every month, we will know what each company is taking and then we will know the duration of the contract will end.
“We have agreed with some companies for six months, and we have agreed with some companies for 15 months. We do not want any project that without funding, we will not have one project. Depending on the national budget is a problem.
“So, we will utilize the IGR to tie it to specific projects, that will reduce the abandoning of projects in the FCT. On Monday we are flagging off the resurfacing of most of the roads in Garki, Maitama, because the roads are terribly bad. I will make sure that the contractors are also paid.
“Most of the projects we are reviewing now are nothing like lack of funds, they are refunding them and as we finish that, we can take up other projects, not carry 100 projects and you cannot complete one. You should take one and finish it, then you go to another one. If not, you will see projects littered all over.”
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNEÂ
and then