Fed Govt To Pay Consultants N895m For N27bn Rivers Road Construction

The Federal Executive Council, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday approved contracts worth N27.4bn for projects in the Ministry of Works and Housing, and the Federal Capital Territory.

The council also approved the establishment of the Federal University of Health Sciences and the raising of a bill for the enactment of the Civil Defense, Corrections, Fire, Immigration Services Board.

Also approved was the payment of N895m to Pearl Consultants for the supervision of a Rivers road project.

The ministers of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; FCT, Mohammed Bello; Interior, Rauf Aregbesola; and the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, gave a breakdown of the approvals during a briefing with State House correspondents, shortly after the virtual FEC meeting.

Fashola said his ministry presented two memoranda, both of which were approved by the council.

According to him, FEC approved the appointment of consultants to supervise the ongoing construction of the Bodo-Bonny Highway in Rivers State, and the construction of the Idah-Nsukka Road, linking Kogi and Enugu states, putting the cost of both projects at N27.07bn.

He said, “On behalf of the Ministry of Works and Housing, I presented two memoranda to the council, the first was to appoint the consultant to undertake the supervision consultancy for the construction of the Bodo-Bonny Road and bridge, which was previously awarded by the council.

“So, we now have a consultant helping to supervise what the contractor is doing. The supervision consultancy was awarded at the sum of N895,250,000 to a group called Pearl Consultants.

“The second memorandum was for the award of the contract for the rehabilitation of the Idah-Nsukka Road, an 84-kilometreroad linking Kogi and Enugu states which Council approved for the sum of N26.17bnin favour of a joint venture of Messrs. Sajeto Construction and RN Construction,” he said

Meanwhile, the FCT minister, Bello, said his ministry got approval for the procurement of a light-duty towing truck for N286,302,277.50.

He said, “This truck is meant to complement and add to the fleet of vehicles that the directory has so that it can enhance our activities of towing vehicles from accident scenes and when they are impounded.

“This contract has been awarded to a company called CIF Global Services Limited, at a total contract sum of N286,302,277.50,with a completion period of eight weeks,” Bello said.