The Federal Government through the Ministry of Works has given reasons behind its decision to terminate multi-billion-naira road contracts earlier awarded to three major contractors, Mothercat Limited, Dantata & Sawoe Limited and RCC Limited.
In a press statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media to the Minister of Works, Orji Uchenna Orji, the ministry said failure by the contractors to fulfil their contractual obligations necessitated the decision of the government.
The statement read, “The Federal Ministry of Works has terminated contract numbers 6136, 6137 and 6138 with Mothercat Ltd, Dantata & Sawoe Construction Ltd and RCC Ltd respectively. The projects affected by this termination are the dualisation of Obajana – Benin road, Section II (Okene-Auchi) in Kogi/Edo State; the dualisation of Obajana-Benin road, Section III (Auchi-Ehor) in Edo State and the dualisation of Obajana-Benin road Section IV (Ehor – Benin) in Edo State.
“The termination of the said contracts became necessary in view of the inordinate delay of the affected companies in job performance and their failure, neglect and, or, refusal to fulfill their contractual obligations as required by the Standard Conditions of Contract and this has affected the timely completion of the projects and thus resulted in the expiration of the contracts by effluxion of time.
“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 Hon. 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 directs 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, and this directive is without prejudice to the exercise of other rights of Federal Government under the contract.”
The statement added that henceforth, it will not condone acts of unseriousness and sabotage by contractors to become a clog in the wheel of progress of the current administration to change the ugly narrative of Nigeria’s road infrastructure, as well as terminate all non-performing, but fully-funded projects under its watch.
