Daily Independent (Lagos)
Adetutu Folasade-Koyi
5 November 2008
Abuja — Transportation Minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke, on Tuesday disclosed how the loss of designs, drawings and maintenance records stalled repairs of the Niger Bridge for which N2.4 billion was approved.
She told the Senate Works Committee, headed by Julius Ucha, that the contract was awarded by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to Sentraco, an indigenous firm.
It was awarded on February 16, 2005 and expected to be completed on July 24, 2007.
The contractor was expected to monitor and study the performance of the bridge, which already showed signs of stress.
Allison-Madueke said the loss of the documents has made it impossible to establish the level and causes of distress on the bridge.
"Due to the urgency and sensitive nature of this project, an anticipatory approval to carry out additional works in the sum of N811,615,237.13 was granted by (Obasanjo) as an addendum to the subsisting contract No.5798 with a completion period of two months
"The 2008 budget appropriation has a provision of N850,000,000 which is adequate to fund the additional works and also pay retention due for the works under the original contract," she added.
However, the rehabilitation could not begin as scheduled because the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) refused to issue a due process certificate for a "no objection" to enable the Ministry of Works forward a memo to the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
The BPP, Allison-Madueke recounted, also slashed the contract value to N620,215.049.32 an offer the contractor did not accept.
She said the contract on the second Niger Bridge, worth N58 billion, is also being stalled because of different penalty "clauses" in the contract.
On September 17, the Senate adopted a motion tabled by Joy Emodi (PDP, Anambra) supported by 12 others - among them Grace Bent (PDP, Adamawa), Patrick Osakwe (Accord, Delta), Umaru Dahiru (PDP, Sokoto) and Ikechukwu Obiorah (PDP, Anambra) - seeking urgent rehabilitation of the bridge.
The Senate mandated the Works Committee to investigate the condition of the Niger Bridge in Onitsha and to ascertain why the rehabilitation was abandoned.
The Committee would also ascertain the position of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement for the project.
Senators unanimously agreed on the construction of a second Niger Bridge to serve as a buffer for the existing one.
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