The House of Representatives committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation has revoked the contract for the dredging of the Imo River over the failure of the contractor to carry out the exercise three years after the contact has been awarded.

The lawmakers also ordered the immediate repayment of the $120 million, which was the contract sum, to the government with an accrued interest of 3 years.

The committee announced its position at the conclusion of the first leg of its 2-day investigative hearing into the privatisation of the Jos Steel Rolling Mill, Imo River Dredging (ALSCON) and Skypower Aviation Handling Company by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).

The $120 million contract was given to UK-RUSAL the major investor in the Aluminium Smelting Company of Nigeria (ALSCON).

Christopher Anyawu, the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), agreed with the decision of the MPs, saying he has recommended the same action to the National Council on Privatisation.

"It has been three years, three months now and the dredging has not been done. We don't want to entertain more gimmicks," he said .

The dredging of the channel of the Imo River was considered an important aspect of the agreement as it was meant to allow big vessels navigate the river to allow delivery of raw materials and removal of commercial products.

However, the Managing Director of RUSAL-ALSCON, Andrey Terentyev said "We would like to mention that the obligation undertaken by UK-RUSAL is not limited by definite deadlines. There is an obligation that dredging works are supposed to be executed and that means that they will be performed."