- The federal government has summoned a contractor over non-performance of a road project in Adamawa
- The road which was supposed to be completed in September 2018 was just 1.3% completed when the minister of state for power, works and housing visited for inspection
- The minister, therefore, summoned the contractors, saying there was the need to review the project and decide whether the contractor can continue or the contract will be terminated
The federal government has summoned the contractor handling the rehabilitation of Mararaba Mubi-Michika-Madagali road in Adamawa state to an urgent meeting in Abuja for an unsatisfactory level of work done on the road project.
The minister of state for power, works and housing, Mustapha Baba Shehuri, issued the summon after doing an on-the-spot assessment of the progress made on the project so far.
According to Leadership, the minister was not satisfied with the level of works done, adding that he discovered that the contract had achieved only 1.3% completion.
The deadline for the completion of the road was September 2018.
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Legit.ng gathers that the contract of rehabilitating the 90km road was awarded to Rhas Nig. Ltd in the total sum of N14. 4 billion to be completed in 18 months.
The project’s commencement date was 27 March 2017 while the completion date was 26 September 2018. The project is just 1.3% completed after it has lapsed for three months.
The three bridges involved were destroyed during the peak of the attack by Boko Haram insurgents in the area, and they constitute the only link between the area and other parts of the country.
The minister said: “Going by what I see here, I am not impressed at all by the performance of the contractor. At the same time, I am shocked to hear that designing of a bridge would take a year in the ministry where we have a lot of engineers.
“I just can’t comprehend that, and I think we have to sit down with the contractor again. I am inviting the contractor and you, the controller to come to my office in Abuja on Monday.
“This contract has lapsed and the job done so far is 1.3%. There is nothing to explain here. We need to go back to the drawing board and see whether you can continue or have the contract terminated.
“This road is very important, being the link between Adamawa and Borno states up to the border and Cameroon.”
Speaking earlier, the member representing the Magadali-Michika constituency in the House of Representatives, Adamu Kamale, who joined the minister at the site said because of the economic importance of the road to the communities, they have been on the neck of the contractor for two years and kept encouraging him on a daily basis to make him perform but to no avail as.
Kamale said the contractor has not fulfilled even one of many promises he made concerning the project. He appealed for the emergency intervention of the federal government.
Briefing the minister earlier, the federal controller of works, Adamawa state, Engineer Salihu Abubakar admitted that the contract time had lapsed at about 120% while about N2.2 billion have been collected as part of mobilisation.
He, however, stated that security challenges and the delay in getting the design from the ministry were also part of the problems that caused the setback suffered by the project, even as he acknowledged the non-performance on the part of the contractor.
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Governor Muhammadu Umaru Jibrila Bindow of Adamawa state said President Muhammadu Buhari does not need to campaign in Adamawa state because of everything the president has done for the state and northeast geo-political zone.
Bindow, at the 2019 flag-off campaign of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Yola, urged the people to vote for President Buhari and the party’s National Assembly candidates, so the president can have a Senate who supports him.
Source: Legit.ng
