How govt neglected N16bn Kaduna bypass for 12 years

Fresh facts have emerged showing how the N16 billion Kaduna eastern bypass road which was expected to be constructed in three years has remained uncompleted for over 12 years now. The contract was awarded to Eksiogullari Construction Company on November 8, 2002 to be completed in 36 months. The road is of strategic importance in […]

Fresh facts have emerged showing how the N16 billion Kaduna eastern bypass road which was expected to be constructed in three years has remained uncompleted for over 12 years now.
The contract was awarded to Eksiogullari Construction Company on November 8, 2002 to be completed in 36 months.
The road is of strategic importance in that it provides alternative route to travelers passing through Kaduna from the southern states and Abuja, to nine states in the north and vice versa.
It is to reduce pressure on Kaduna township roads as well as save travel time for travelers.
However, documents seen by Daily Trust in Abuja showed that the project suffered due to poor funding.
After the contract was signed, actual work did not commence until March 5, the following year as villagers along the road insisted on being paid compensation.
Subsequent annual fund releases were inadequate resulting in work disruption, sources said.
Terms of the agreement required government to pay N4 billion to the contractors representing 25 percent of the total cost as advance payment.
However, a Federal Ministry of Works document showed that it took 33 months after signing the agreement for the contractor to fully receive the 25 percent advance payment.
The document showed that three years after the contract was awarded only N3 billion of the N16 billion was released by the federal government — that is a billion naira annually from 2002 to 2004.
According to the document, government paid the contractor N1 billion in 2002 instead of N4 billion advance payment.     
 It was not until 2005 that government budgeted N2.5 billion, the highest fund allocated to the project.
For three years beginning from 2006, payment was steady but still “inadequate” according to a source involved with the project.
In 2006 government budgeted N1.456 billion; in 2007 N1.3 billion and in 2008 budget was twice. It first budgeted N2.02 billion and later in November it budgeted additional N1.1 billion.
From 2009 funding of the project declined to N1 billion; it further came down to N675 million.
In 2010, it rose slightly to N975 million. From 2011 the funding has drastically reduced. All yearly budgetary allocations to the project are always not fully released.
Inside sources said the contractors were advised by government to source for money and continue to work.
Twice the contractors were able to secure loans from Nexim Bank of Turkey. First they got a loan of $100 million but government refused to guarantee the loan.
The final design was ready for the contractor only in October, 2005, the terminal date for the project while the value of work executed each year had always been more than the budgetary allocation.
Our sources said sometimes in 2008 the Kaduna State government decided to intervene by calling a meeting among the contractors, the state government and the officials of the Federal Ministry of Works.
The purpose of the meeting was to see how the state could help, according to a source. Poor financing of the project was discussed but nothing was heard about it again, he said.
Although a technical committee comprising professionals and consultants together with the contractors for the project presented a report on the way forward for the project to former Minister of Works Mike Onolememen, nothing came out of it. It was said that the minister thrice wrote former president Goodluck Jonathan requesting him to approve review of rates which had been pending since 2009, no action was taken.
This was intended to lead to variation of the contract sum by N24 billion bringing the total contract sum to N40 billion.
The review was to reflect increase in construction materials, labour, forex and other associated costs.
 In comparison, the East West road which cost hundreds of billions of naira has been receiving adequate funding.
Contract for the road was awarded by the federal government in 2006 for over N250 billion and has since been reviewed upward to more than N700 billion.
Daily Trust reports that this is in sharp contrast to what is happening to Kaduna eastern bypass road which should have received the same attention because of the importance of the road and its economic advantage to Kaduna, North and Nigeria in general.
Also, sources said funding to the second Niger Bridge contract which was awarded by former President Jonathan has been receiving adequately.
When confronted with the Kaduna by-pass matter, the Director of North-west Highways, Federal Ministry of Works, Engineer Godwin Eghieye attributed the delay in the completion of the project to the extension of delivery date of the project.
Eghieye said that the contract awarded to Eksiogullari Construction Company in November 2002 was initially scheduled for completion in 2005, but due to paucity of funds, the contract was twice extended.
He said due to the extension in the completion time of the road contract, the N16 billion initially budgeted for the contract increased by over15 percent, prompting the ministry to write the presidency for the approval of the current contract rate.
Eghieye said the ministry cannot single handedly approve road project variation that is above 15 percent, stressing that it can only approve those below 15 percent in consultation with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).
Eghieye explained that the road 48.9km has three interchanges, 10 bridges laid across the river and two flyovers across railway lines.
He said, “One of the issues affecting the road contract has to do with obsolete rate and the need for augmentation of initial contract sum. As we speak, we are still waiting for approval of the augmentation from the presidency.”
He maintained that compensation has been paid residents whose farmlands and houses were demolished to pave way for the road construction.
He said that the road is significant because it links Abuja with the far north and reduces traffic congestion on the Mando bypass.