Rivers State Executive Council (SEC) has cancelled the N134 billion contract for the reconstruction of the state secretariat complex, which was awarded to the China Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCECC).
The council, at its meeting at Government House, Port Harcourt, yesterday and presided over by Governor Siminalayi Fubara, directed the company to refund the N20 billion mobilisation fee it received.
The contract was awarded by the immediate past sole administrator of the state, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd).
A few weeks ago, a section of the secretariat was gutted by fire linked to an electrical fault.
The state secretariat complex was constructed by the administration of the first military governor of old Rivers State, Alfred Diete-Spiff, in the 1970s.
The complex is a cluster of five high-rise buildings, with the tallest building being a 17-storey building called Point Block, followed by a 10-storey building called Podium Block.
There are other three seven- storey buildings partitioned into blocks A, B and C.
LEADERSHIP Friday observed that the complex had its first rehabilitation process in 2004 during the administration of former Governor Peter Odili.
