Contractors handling over 184 federal road projects have abandoned the various sites due to lack of funding from the Federal Government and the huge debt owed them by the Federal Ministry of Works.

Saturday PUNCH reliably learnt that following the decisions of the contractors to abandon the sites, N1.76trn federal road projects across the country had suffered setback.

The amount is the total cost of ongoing federal road projects across the six geo-political zones of the country.

The President, Federation of Construction Industry, the umbrella body for construction companies, Mr. Solomon Ogunbusola, in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, said all federal roads that had not been completed had been abandoned.

The contractors said they were owed over N600bn, adding that although part of the sum was owed by state and local governments, over 80 per cent of the amount was owed by the Federal Government.

This, according to them, was largely the reason why they decided to abandon the various project sites across the country.

They explained that their decision was not in protest against the government, but was purely because they could not function without funds.

The contractors could not state the exact number of ongoing federal road projects abandoned across the country, but findings showed that 184 projects were classified as ongoing by the Federal Government as at September 2014.

The North-Central Zone had 29 projects with a total length of 1,201.81km and a cost of N294bn; North-East had 26 projects, 1,219.65km long and cost N314bn; North-West had 20 projects, 1,040.22km long and cost N188bn; while the South-East had 45 projects stretching 1,251.4km with a worth of N357bn.

The South-South had 33 ongoing projects, 739.57km long costing N245bn; while the number of ongoing projects in the South-West was put at 31, stretching 1,072.63km at a total cost of N365bn.

The total number of ongoing projects at the time this report was done by the FMW in September 2014 was 184, and the projects were meant to cover a cumulative length of 6,525.63km across the country at a total cost of N1.765tn.

We are owing banks –Contractors

Explaining why they abandoned the various sites where they work, Ogunbusola told one of our correspondents that the contractors had no fund to work with.

He said, “All federal roads awarded by the Federal Ministry of Works that have not been completed have been abandoned. They have not paid anybody anything, let alone improving our payments. That is why we are not on sites. Maybe by the time the President forms his cabinet, we will start getting payments. It could be possible that the President wants the ministers to handle the matter. We are owing a lot of banks, so how can we work when we are not paid? Virtually all contractors have to abandon project sites.

“It is not that we are protesting against government policies or its anti-corruption crusade, we are only waiting for our payments. As soon as contractors get their payments, you will see that infrastructural development will pick up. We are happy with this administration’s policies, but the truth is that we have not been paid and there is no way we can go back to site when we don’t have money to pay workers after the construction industry has already laid off close to 10,000 employees due to issues of funding.”

Many roads are less than 30 per cent completed –Investigation

Further findings showed that as at September last year, only seven federal road projects out of the 51 contracts awarded in 2013 had recorded up to 40 per cent completion. Many of the projects were far less than 30 per cent completed.

In fact, one of the projects, the construction of Jarmai Basha Road in Plateau State, was zero per cent complete even after it was awarded in 2013. Many others had similar stories as they were less than 10 per cent completed one year after they were awarded.

Major projects like the reconstruction and expansion of the two sections of the Lagos-Ibadan dual carriageway, which passes through Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states, were only 11 and eight per cent completed, according to the ministry.

Also the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the two sections of the Enugu-Port Harcourt dual carriageway in Abia State were just eight and 3.5 per cent completed after being awarded one year earlier.

These project sites and many others had been abandoned by contractors working on them due to paucity of funds from the Federal Government.

In the Federal Capital Territory, virtually all sites that used to have heavy construction work on them about four months ago have been abandoned.

For instance, contractors like Julius Berger, CCECC, Dantata & Sawoe, as well as many others had stopped work on project sites like the Lugbe-Airport road, the bridge linking Byazhim and Kubwa market, the major bridge linking the central business district with Nyanya, and many others in the FCT.

Ogunbusola further explained that although the former government of President Goodluck Jonathan gave out many contracts, it did not pay for most of the jobs, a development that had made many construction firms distressed.

ORACLE1975:
waiting jam your source?

ORACLE1975:
waiting jam your source?

kogirodent:
Body language don de malfunct here o. Heheehehe.