The Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi has yet again threatened to revoke the contract of Julius Berger Plc, over the delay in mobilizing to the site despite the approved funds by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) adding that this was causing untold hardship to the road users and that the Federal Government was at the receiving end of the situation.
This is according to a statement issued by the Special Adviser (Media) to the Minister of Works, Barr. Orji Uchenna on Wednesday October 22, 2024.
Uchenna said this formed the basis of discussion during the courtesy visit of the new Managing Director of Julius Berger Plc, Dr. Pier Lubasch and the outgoing Managing Director, Dr. Lars Richter at the Minister’s office in Abuja. Umahi lamented the delay in mobilizing to site by the company despite the approved funds by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
He said, “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”.
The Minister expressed dismay that Julius Berger Plc, which had years of patronage by Federal Government and sub-national governments, was not realistic in the contract pricing, especially at this time of Nigeria’s economic challenges.
He therefore urged the contractor to within 7 days 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 termination adding that the Federal Government would not 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”.
While welcoming Dr. Lubasch, the Minister reiterated the need for construction companies working with the Federal Ministry of Works to prepare to make sacrifices in terms of value for money and realistic contract pricing so as to encourage the much needed road infrastructure revolution for the nation’s economic transformation.
He said, “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.”
On his part, the new Managing Director 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. The outgoing Managing Director, however, noted that the essence of the courtesy call to the Minister of Works was to introduce the new Managing Director of the company.
