December 06, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has ordered the contractor handling the Bodo-Bonny Road and Bridges project, Julius Berger PLC, to go back to the site and complete the project or lose it to another firm.
Minister of Works, David Umahi, gave the directive when he received a delegation of the Bodo-Bonny Road Peace Committee in his office on Tuesday.
A statement by Orji Uchenna Orji, Chief Press Secretary to the Minister, said Umahi assured the host communities of the Bodo-Bonny Road and Bridge project, in Rivers State, that the Federal Government would ensure the completion of the Bodo-Bonny Road and Bridge project on record time.
He assured that the ministry would make sure that the Bobo-Bonny road project would be completed by April 2024.
“Nobody will hold this country to ransom, if they cannot do it, another person will come and do it and finish it even better but the only charge I give to you is not to allow any equipment out of sight until they complete the project”, he said.
The minister, who said there was a partnership agreement in 2017 between the Federal Government via the Federal Ministry of Works and NLNG, on modalities for the funding of the project, wondered why the contractor; Julius Berger, was no longer on site despite their commitment under their agreement to deliver within the revised date of completion.
He faulted the stand of Julius Berger on a variation of the project even when the company had signed a commitment to complete the project without asking for further variation.
“No equipment must be allowed to be moved out of site, they must complete that project as agreed and as signed and nothing has removed that responsibility which they willingly on their own signed.
“I implore you the peace committee to report to me the progress that has been made on that road.
“Bobo-Bonny project was augmented to N199 billion; I am told by the Ministry and NLNG Limited (NLNG), that there was a document signed by Julius Berger that the project cannot be varied which means that the project cost cannot be increased, the project is about 35 kilometres”, he said.
The minister thanked the host communities for maintaining peace with the contractor handling the project despite the delays and charged them to continue with their peaceful disposition toward contractors handling projects in their area.
In his remarks, the Federal Director of Bridges and Design, Engr. O. O. Awosanya said the initial date of completion was supposed to be December 31, 2023, and that the road consisted of 13 bridges.
“We have three main bridges and we have nine mini bridges and one bridge over the pipeline. The project completion as of today is about 84% and the contractor has requested a review which is against the spirit of the propagated agreement that was signed between the Federal Government, the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas and JB in 2021”, he added.
Delivering the mission statement of the delegation of the Bodo-Bonny Road Peace Committee, Dr. Charles John Jumbo, thanked President Bola Tinubu for the massive intervention he is bringing to the road sub-sector and appreciated the efforts of the Ministry of Works in changing the narrative of the road infrastructure in Nigeria,
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