The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Works, says it has N431 billion ready for contractors.
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, disclosed this while meeting with contractors handling road dualization projects and zonal directors of the ministry at its office in Abuja on Thursday.
The minister also announced the government’s intention to focus on most of the dualized roads across the country.
Umahi said he had also come up with a performance bond, which meant that all new projects would be guaranteed for 10 years.
He said, “The reason we are here now is to announce our intention to face most of the dualized roads in the country.
“I want to remind you that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is funding 50 percent of the contract sum, and that funding goes up to 2025.
“We have N431 billion of money that is ready for contractors to clear, but there is no certificate for it. If you are doing a job under Phase 1, make an effort to make claims; if your job involves augmentation, go back to your regional director for understanding before I sign the certificate. Any certificate I sign now, I have to account for it even when I leave office.”
Speaking through the Director of Information, Press, and Public Relations Unit, Blessing Lere-Adams, Umahi further urged the contractors to stick to one lane if their job had not gone up to 50 percent completion.
He urged all contractors that had built roads that could not last up to 10 years to write to the ministry to either stop work or rebuild the road to last 10 years.
The minister warned contractors that he would not listen to stories of failures on the roads due to overloading.
He urged them to cooperate with him in building roads with concrete technology, as it was done both in India and Singapore.
Umahi also told the contractors and stakeholders to key into the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President’.
He said this administration had 18000 kilometers of roads and inherited a contract of about N14.1 trillion, out of which N4 trillion was being paid for all those projects, and some of the projects had lasted between 10 and 20 years.
The minister alleged some contractors jerked up the contractor sum by 100 percent, which is why they were not getting paid.
