FEC okays N2.9b contract for Calabar-Ugep-Ogoja-Katsina Ala road extension

[TGD]

THE Federal Executive Council (FEC) Wednesday approved the contract for the extension of the Calabar-Ugep-Ogoja-Katsina Ala road linking Benue and Cross River states to tackle the deplorable state of the road.

  The Minister of State for Works, Bashir Yuguda and his Information counterpart, Labaran Maku, in their joint media briefing, told State House Correspondents that the Council was informed that following the success of the recent conference on HIV/AIDS in Abuja, the United Nations has decided to organise a mini-summit on the sidelines during the UN General Assembly in New York later in the year.

  According to Yuguda, the first phase of the Calabar-Ogoja-Ugep-Kastsina Ala road project was aimed at addressing the heavily distressed sections of the road for which contract was awarded in April 2009, while other sections not captured in the original contract scope of work would be addressed later.

  Yuguda put the cost of the initial contract sum at N4.6 billion, while the sum of the latest addition stands at N2.99 billion, bringing the total to be spent on that road to N7.6 billion.   It was awarded to Messrs Piccolo Brunelli Limited with a completion period of 24 months.

  "The first phase of that road was awarded some years back and following the progress that has been made by the contractor handling it, the ministry brought a memo to extend and add a portion to the one that is being done, so that the contractor, on completing the first phase, would not pack out of sight, and therefore, creating more problems of giving the job to another contractor. So they brought a memo to Council today seeking total completion of the new extension to be done on the Calabar-Ugep_Ogoja-Katsina Ala road.

 "Council studied the benefits that would accrue, especially as progress have been recorded in the first phase of that job, and approved this memo for the extension of the job to the contractor working at site. The road is a very important one linking the South-South and North-Central parts of the country."

  According to Yuguda, "the present section of the road will be from Kilometer 48 to Kilometer 76. The original contract sum was N4.6 billion and the extra work to be done on the remaining portion that we presented to Council today is for N2.9 billion, roughly about N3 billion. So, the new contract sum is N7.6 billion.

  "The expected completion period for the extra portion of the road is to be carried out in 24 months and the contractor is on site. The reason for segmenting the award of the contract was to save cost in mobilising a new contractor; the present contractor is on the site and he has achieved 80 per cent of the existing contract. So, we believe this is a very important road that is linking South-South to North Central parts of he country."

The Guardian