With Mothercat Ltd., Dantata & Sawoe Construction Ltd., and RCC Ltd., respectively, the Federal Ministry of Works has canceled contract numbers 6,136, 6,137, and 6,138.
Projects that are impacted by the cancellation are the dualization of the Obajana-Benin road in Kogi/Edo State’s section II (Okene- Auchi); the dualization of the Obajana-Benin road in Edo State’s section III (Auchi-Ehor); and the dualization of both sections IV (Ehor-Benin) in Edo State.
Orji Uchenna Orji, Special Adviser (Media) to the Minister of Works, made this known in a statement that was made accessible to journalists on Monday.
The statement claims that the termination was necessary due to the impacted organizations’ alleged excessive delays in work performance as well as their failure, neglect, and refusal to carry out their contractual obligations as stipulated by the Standard Conditions of Contract.
Orji claimed that this had impacted the projects’ timely completion and, as a result, caused the contracts to expire due to the passage of time.
The text of the statement said: “The projects which were awarded on 3rd December, 2012, were advertently abandoned by the contractors and no genuine commitment or good faith was shown towards executing the projects after accepting the considerations offered by the Federal Government and thereby exposing the road users to untold hardship due to the deplorable condition of the projects.
“The Honourable Minister has therefore directed the engineers in charge to take necessary steps to enter upon both the site and the works and take the same over from the affected companies.
“He further directed the engineers concerned to, upon doing the needful, arrange with the affected companies for a joint measurement of work so far done by the said companies preparatory to taking over the sites from the said companies.
“He warns that the Federal Ministry of Works under his watch will not condone acts of unseriousness and sabotage by contractors whose plan is to become a clog in the wheel of progress of the Renewed Hope administration which is determined to change the ugly narrative of Nigeria’s road infrastructure.
“He further warns that going forward, the government will not hesitate in terminating all projects that are funded but are non-performing.”
The impacted contractors have not yet addressed the accusations.
