The Federal Government, through the Minister of Works, David Umahi, has ordered the termination of the reconstruction of the Benin-Sapele-Warri Road (Section 1: Benin-Imasabor) contract with Levant Construction Ltd., being executed under Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme, due to non-performance.

In a briefing after a meeting with the Chief Executives of GELD Construction Ltd and SKECC Nigeria Ltd over the delay in the execution of the Benin-Sapele-Warri road project, the minister expressed disappointment over the failure and neglect of Messrs Levant to live up to expectation in their contractual duties in respect of the section of the Benin-Sapele-Warri road awarded to them.

He said: ?We have three sections there. We have the Levant section. Unfortunately, Levant has not lived up to expectation. We even had to intervene and beg the Governor of Edo State to please get the worst sections of that route done.

?We divided the worst sections into two and told Levant to concentrate on one part. While the Governor of Edo State intervened, which I think is about 23 kilometers for N35 billion, and that section the Governor of Edo State intervened is ongoing very well, Levant has since left site. We gave them a series of warning letters.

?We also gave them the last termination notice. When a termination notice is given to you, it is for you within 14 days to go back to the site and begin to do those things you were not doing. This time is for them to remobilize to the site and for them to work, but they did not respond.?

The minister expressed his disappointment in a meeting with the Minister of State for Works, Bello Muhammad Goronyo; Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Works, Olufunso Adebiyi, and directors of key departments.

Umahi also directed the permanent secretary to get the job properly terminated and write them a letter for a joint measurement, and also to write their bank to request for repayment of the APG failing which the matter would be taken to EFCC.

The minister, however, expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the discussion with SKECC Nigeria Ltd and Geld Construction Ltd over the need for them to step up work on the respective sections of the road project being handled by them.

He commended the Governor of Delta State, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori and the Governor of Edo State, Sen. Monday Okpebholo, for their interventions on some kilometers of that road project.

?I have called the Governor of Delta State, and I commend him for the very beautiful work he?s doing. Three flyovers at the same time, beautiful flyovers. In this country, we need such beauties. We have also learned from that design. So we appealed to him to get any contractor within that zone to put ten kilometers with reinforced concrete.

?He has accepted to do that. So I commend him very highly, which means that the Governor of Edo State is intervening in that section, and the Governor of Delta State is intervening in that section. We are grateful to them,? he said.

On the jobs by Messrs SKECC and Messrs Geld, Umahi stated: ?SKECC has about one kilometer which they started with milled asphalt, yes the money in the budget for SKECC within their own section, NNPC allocation, is exhausted. But we are pleading with them to go back and remedy this one kilometer that they have milled the existing asphalt.?

For Messrs Geld, he said, ?Geld has accepted to go back to their own section, and we?ve agreed to review their project to cater for the unforeseen circumstances that they encountered. So they are going back to the site, and we?ve agreed to work very well with them. And we?re happy about that. And the second job they have, which is Lokoja ? Abuja road, we?ve also agreed that they should go back to the site and review the project, because as of today, the asphalt cost is 9,000 per square meter, whereas asphalt is about 30,000 per square meter.

?So they are going back to the site on trust, and we?re going to do that. And then you get to Itoki ? Ikorodu road, which is 34 kilometers. We?ve agreed with them on all the issues. They are going back to the site, and I thank Mr. President for his interest in all the projects in the federation.?

While reacting to statements by some groups who purport to speak on behalf of Northern elders and who alleged that the Federal Ministry of Works is doing more projects in the south than In the north, the minister debunked such impressions as false and misleading, noting that the Renewed Hope administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been consistently inclusive in the implementation of road and bridge projects across the six geo-political zones, both in the execution of the inherited ongoing road projects and in the distribution of the Renewed Hope Road Legacy Projects.

While recounting the numerous ongoing projects in the north, he stated: ?In this ministry, we don?t count where anybody came from. We don?t count where projects are cited. We are using the example of Mr. President who came on board. He took all the inherited projects of the ministry and continued to go with them. He didn?t want to know the lopsidedness of the projects.

?For example, this tax credit of NNPC is only five per cent in South West and four per cent in South East, Niger State has 26 per cent alone. So, he didn?t want to care about where these inherited projects are. He had to, as a very unique leader, take over the entire thing, and he?s going on with them. And so we should stop looking at a project as it?s coming from the north, it?s coming from the south because the southern people use the roads of the north, and the northern people use the roads of the south. So we should see ourselves as one people one country, this is very important.?

The minister expressed commitment to the ministry?s mission of restoring the confidence of Nigerians on the road infrastructure nationwide and thus make the people appreciate the transformational power of the renewed hope administration of Tinubu. (Nigerian Tribune)

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