Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the level of work so far done on the second Niger bridge, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria Road, to ascertain  if it commensurated with funds spent.

The House mandated its Committee on Works to undertake the investigation and ascertain if the contractors have the capacity to deliver the projects as scheduled.

This followed the adoption of a motion by Ifeanyi Momah on the slow pace of work on the three projects, at yesterday’s plenary.

Momah, in his lead debate, said there was  evidence of slow pace of work on the  three projects, which have resulted in traffic congestion and fatal accidents being recorded daily on the roads and a downturn in the economy of the states where the projects are located.

He explained that the projects which form critical part of the infrastructural development of the present government were designated to be funded under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) domiciled at the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) to ensure proper and prompt funding.

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He said  in spite the prompt release of funds by the NSIA  the projects may not be completed at the scheduled time.

“As of December 2019, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has released the following amounts N19, 520,949,317.16 to Section 1 of Lagos Ibadan Expressway, N80, 242,079,039.46 to the 2nd Niger Bridge and N50,856,044,301.27 to Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road, amounting to about N150,619,072,657.89”

The lawmaker said there was a potential conflict of interest in Julius Berger’s involvement in the 2nd Niger Bridge which he said is made up of three sections.

Momah further explained that the phase 1 of the second Niger Bridge  was to be awarded as Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer basis under PPP scheme, while phase 2a and 2b were to be awarded as traditional contracts.

“The same job has now been awarded to Julius Berger for N206 Billion, as against the cost of N118 billion valued by BPP. ..a Swiss challenge bid process ought to be adopted to avoid a situation of potential conflict of interest.”