June 20, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has reviewed upwards the contract sum for the ongoing construction of the Bodo-Bonny link road in Rivers State from the initial N199 billion to the sum of N280 billion.
Minister of Works, David Umahi, disclosed this during an inspection tour of road projects on Wednesday.
Umahi, who said the Government has set December 15, 2024, as the target date for the completion and commissioning of the project, explained that the Federal Ministry of Works is harmonising contracts based on priority and the availability of funds to see such projects to completion.
While noting that President Bola Tinubu’s administration inherited over 2,600 uncompleted road projects, the minister said the projects are to be executed based on fairness and equity across the geo-political zones and states due to paucity of funds.
“Shortly a while ago we arrived at the zenith zero of the famous Bodo-Bonny road being handled by Julius Berger. We have had some running battles with Berger. For Berger, they needed to complete the road and for the Ministry of Works, the road must not be completed at all costs.
“The job must be completed within the limited resources available to the Federal Government. However, we have caved into the demands of Berger and I’m also happy that Berger caved in, in the other locations where we have differences like the Abuja/Kano road, second Niger Bridge, Lagos/Ibadan, Odukpani in Cross River, that’s give and take.
“So we are not unhappy about agreeing to the cost that Berger posed to us so we have accepted the cost, so the project has been reviewed to a final figure of N280 Billion and that is the completion cost”, the Minister explained.
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