Accept ₦740bn Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Road Project Or Forget It In 7 Days, Umahi Tells Julius Berger

The Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi, has issued a seven-day ultimatum to Julius Berger to accept the Federal Government’s offer of N740.79bn and complete the 82km section II of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano expressway.

The ultimatum was issued on Wednesday during a courtesy visit to the Minister by the new Managing Director of Julius Berger Plc, Dr Pier Lubasch, accompanied by the firm’s outgoing Managing Director, Dr Lars Richter, at the Ministry Headquarters in Abuja.

A statement later signed by the Special Adviser (Media) to the Minister of Works, Orji Uchenna, noted that Julius Berger risked termination of the contract if it does not accept the offer.

“The Honourable Minister of Works, His Excellency, Sen. Engr. Nweze David Umahi, CON has for the umpteenth time called on Julius Berger Plc. to show corporate patriotism by accepting the Federal Government’s approved reviewed total contract sum of ₦740, 797,204,713.25 (Seven Hundred and Forty Billion, Seven Hundred and Ninety-Seven Million, Two Hundred and Four Thousand, Seven Hundred and Thirteen Naira, Twenty-Five Kobo for the completion of the rehabilitation of the 82 km section II of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road, contract No.6350,” he stated.

The statement highlighted that the delay in mobilising to the project site despite the approved funds by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) was causing untold hardship to the road users and that the Federal Government was at the receiving end of the situation.

“So if Berger is not doing it, then let’s have other people to do the job and within the time that we can control price. We’ve had more than 20 letters from Berger on this. It is a ping pong game from Julius Berger. The prices rose from ₦710 billion to ₦740 billion because of these delays. And if we continue the delays, it is the problem of the Ministry of Works,” he added.

Umahi also expressed disappointment that the company which has had years of patronage by the Federal Government and sub-national governments, was not realistic in the contract pricing, especially at this time of Nigeria’s economic challenges.

He stated that the contractor has seven days to accept or reject the approved reviewed contract sum for the completion of the rehabilitation of section II of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road, or face contract determination as the Federal Government cannot be held to ransom by the desire for unrealistic pricing and augmentation by contractors.

He said, “This offer is not subject to any condition. It’s not subject to any condition that is being dished out here. It’s taken as given after more than 14 months. I’m sorry, I have to sound this way because there must be an end to negotiation. If anybody says there shouldn’t be an end to negotiation, then that person is not a business person. If you have negotiated for 14 months without any result, you should terminate the negotiation.”

The minister emphasised the need for construction companies to work with the Federal Ministry of Works.

He urged that they should be prepared to make sacrifices in terms of value for money and realistic contract pricing, to encourage the much-needed road infrastructure revolution for the nation’s economic transformation, which is a cardinal agenda of the Renewed Hope administration of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu.

“Already a number of Berger projects have been terminated because the site has been abandoned. And we needed to do something about it because Nigerians are suffering. Nigerians are crying, and they are insulting the President. We can not allow that to be happening,” he said.

Responding, the new Managing Director of Julis Berger promised to revert as soon as possible on the issues sought to be addressed and hoped that consensus would be reached for the project to take off without further delay.