Daily Independent (Lagos)
By Aaron Ukodie, Deputy Business Editor
19 November 2008
As Nigeria awaits arrival of the President of the Chinese China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC), Mr. Wang Haibo, the company that manufactured and launched the Nigerian Satellite in orbit on Friday, it has been revealed that another $500 million contract awarded for the construction of NigComsat 2 and 3 is yet to take off.
The contract was awarded to Proyecte Engineering several months ago.
The contract awarded in the first quarter of this year involves the provision of solar panels for community communications centres across the country.
Competent sources told Daily Independent on Wednesday that though the project was yet to take off the contractor has been paid the contract sum.
The contract was awarded Proyecte Engineering without the required bidding process, according to sources.
Proyecte Engineering was recently registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in Nigeria.
Its parent company is however domiciled in the United States with the name Project.
But an official of NigComSat who spoke with Daily Independent insisted that the contract was on and once the issue of an alternative transponder to the missing NigComSat was found, the project will be launched.
According to the official, about 70 solar panels have been provided out of the 400 awarded in the contract.
Haibo will be in Nigeria on Friday to hold talks with Nigerian officials on how to resolve the missing NigeriaComSat-1.
He is coming at a time when there are questions over a N130 million contracts awarded to a firm by NigComSat to provide solar panels for the establishments of 400 community communication centres in Nigeria.
He is expected to hold talks with Minister of Science and Technology, Grace Ekpiwhre, NigComSat Managing Director, Ahmed Rufai, Director General (DG) of National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Prof Robert Boroficce and other officials of government including the Minister of State, Dr.Alhassan Bako Zaku, and the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Raymond Ezenwa.
It is not clear yet if the CGWI president will meet with President Mus Yar' Adua over the matter, according to a NigComSat source.
Rufai had told the House of Representatives on Tuesday that an internal Crisis Management Team (CMT) is already in place and is currently working with the manufacturers, CGWIC, the Technical Consultants in Canada and the underwriters to conclude the Fault Tree analyses and commence discussions on the insurance policy.
"The company has also contacted the President of CGWIC who expressed the corporation's commitment towards resolving this crisis with finality. This commitment is particularly significant to the future of Sino-Nigeria relations', he said.
Fresh information has also emerged that the Nigerian Satellite launched by the China Great Wall Industry may not have been effectively tested before launch since it was the first of its king to be launched globally by the company.
At the time of its launch the communications satellite, known as NIGCOMSAT-1, based on China's latest model of satellite platform, DFH No. 4 was the first time China would provide a package of space products and services, including design, manufacturing, orbital delivery, and ground products and services, to an overseas client.
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