A monument to failure

Two years since Yuguda gave the assurance–and twelve years after the sod was turned to begin the construction of the 48-kilometre road-the bypass project is nowhere near completion. In fact, according to the contractors, Eksiogullari Construction (Nig) Ltd, not much has happened on the project site since 2013.Originally awarded to the firm in November 2002 […]

Two years since Yuguda gave the assurance–and twelve years after the sod was turned to begin the construction of the 48-kilometre road-the bypass project is nowhere near completion. In fact, according to the contractors, Eksiogullari Construction (Nig) Ltd, not much has happened on the project site since 2013.
Originally awarded to the firm in November 2002 at a cost of 16 billion naira, the project was envisaged for completion in three years. To date, according to findings in a report by this newspaper, only about 30 per cent work has been done, although the company got a variation to the contract, pushing the cost of the project to 24 billion naira in 2010, though the company seemed to deny this actually happened.
‘With the contractors not able to meet the 2005 deadline for the completion of the project, the date was readjusted in 2007 and rescheduled for 2012. But having collected over N10 billion from the government, the company was still unable to deliver the first 16 kilometres running between Kakau on the Kaduna/Abuja road to Mararaban Rido on the Kaduna/Kafanchan road at the end of the 2012 deadline’, according to the report. Yuguda’s new deadline of November 30, was not met either.
Given the importance of the project, and the economic and social benefits that go it, there is no reason why it has taken this long, and is still far from completion.  The report contained portions that appeared to suggest that it was the government not releasing money to the contracting firm that had caused the delay. But the summary of the report’s conclusion also cast doubts on the competence of the contractors to successfully execute the project.
Indeed, as the report noted, a former Kaduna State governor, the late Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, hinted at such lack of capacity during a tour of the project site. If that had been the case, why has the government not deemed it necessary to persuade the contractor to hasten the job or, alternatively, withdraw the contract and award it to a more reliable firm?
 The possibility of being blacklisted in the country for not delivering on the terms of this particular contract should be enough pressure on the company to perform, although damage may already has been done to its reputation with questions about its competence being raised.
On the other hand, it could be the conduct of officials of the government that has been hampering the project’s execution.  The firm’s management officials claimed that the delay in completing the project was caused by lack of funds, on the government’s side. ‘Funds budgeted for the project over the years were inadequate, just as monies released were less than the actual amount budgeted’, the deputy managing director of Eksiogullari Construction (Nig) Ltd, Alhaji Jaafaru Baba, was quoted as saying. He went on to assert that the contract’s original value of 16 billion naira had never been varied. The billing rates agreed at the project’s inception in 2012, he said, was still that amount as at this year.
Both the government and the contractors should sort out their differences so that the project can be completed without further delay, and end the notion of it being a mark of the failure of government.