The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has said the total cost and breakdown of the ongoing Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project will be made available to the public on Friday.
This was contained in a statement signed by the minister’s Special Adviser on Media, Orji Uchenna, on Tuesday in Abuja.
Umahi also explained that despite the soaring costs of materials in the construction industry due to commodity price inflation and supply chain disruptions, the ministry is committed to prudence, cost-effectiveness, promptness, and quality delivery of road projects remains unmatched.
The minister’s assurance comes against the backdrop of serious contentions in recent days over the costs and bidding process of the 700km coastal highway project.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar, had questioned the Tinubu administration’s decision to award the contract to Gilbert Chagoury’s Hitech without competitive bidding, daring the president to disclose the full cost of the Lagos-Calabar highway project.
He also wondered why the Tinubu administration released N1.06tn for the pilot phase, or six per cent of the project, which begins at Eko Atlantic and is expected to terminate at the Lekki Deep Sea Port.
However, the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, had, in a statement, told Atiku to get his facts right about the project.
The former vice president said that the Tinubu administration could not continue to keep silent on how much public funds would be spent on the project at a time when Nigeria was still facing dire economic challenges.
Reacting to the issues during his inspection visit to the ongoing rehabilitation of the Enugu-Port Harcourt dual carriageway, the works minister described the analysis made on the coastal road project figures and the economic importance of the all-important coastal highway project as a gross misrepresentation of facts, and figures and a ploy to mislead Nigerians by darkening counsel without knowledge.
Umahi said, “He (Atiku Abubakar) doesn’t understand figures. I am going to run figures for him to understand, and he will understand how prudent the administration of President Tinubu has been. He will understand how prudency is taking centre stage in this administration. The President has once queried me on the cost of ongoing projects nationwide. I had to analyse every basic rate of construction materials to arrive at our unit rates. I showed it to Mr. President. He still thinks I should bring down the cost of projects.
“At the same time, the contractors are crying that I am oppressing them so much by reviewing the costs of their projects downwards. They lamented that what they were getting before, they are no longer getting it now. They cried out. But when I run the figures, Nigerians will see what this present administration is doing.
“So, I’m not here to run the figures now. I will do that in a press conference on my visit to Lagos from April 10, 2024 to April 12, 2024.”
On the economic importance of the coastal highway, he stated, “I will tell you the economic benefits of the project and how the coastal road is tying the entire country together. It’s not tying just South-South and South-West. It is tying the North and South together. We are starting a project from Badagry to Sokoto, and we have a spur on this coastal route to that route and the African Trans Sahara Road that is passing from Enugu to Abakaliki to Ogoja to Cameroon which has a spur to the North”.
“His Excellency, former Vice President Akitu Abubakar, may not know that the third section of the project is starting in Calabar by July 2024.”
The minister further commended the pace and quality of work on the projects he visited but harped on the need for the contractors to heed the project delivery timeline.
On the progress of work at the East-West Road Section III, he said, “The reinforcement is very good, the concrete is very good, the speed is not very good, so they have to increase their speed. If RCC doesn’t increase their pace, I will take out a portion of this road and give it to another contractor. We will not want contractors to stay on a job like this 15 km dualisation for two years or more.”
The statement further added that the former Ebonyi governor also visited the construction of a 23-span flyover bridge project at Eke-Obinagu Junction (NNPC Depot), along Enugu Abakaliki Road, Enugu State handled by Reinforced Global Resources Ltd, the rehabilitation work at the collapsed bridge site at the New Artisan Bridge near NNPC mega fillings station Enugu Capital City, Enugu State handled by CCECC, the rehabilitation of Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway Section 3, Enugu- Lokpanta handled by CGC, the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Enugu-Port Harcourt dual carriageway section 2 (Umuahia Tower-Aba Township Rail/ Road) in Abia State, handled by the Arab Contractors and the reconstruction of the dualized 15km section of the East-West road section III: (Eleme Junction- Onne Port in Rivers State being executed on the reinforced concrete pavement like the coastal road) handled by RCC.