The Federal Government has terminated the contract for the dualisation of Obajana-Benin Road, section II (Okene-Auchi) in Kogi/Edo states, awarded to Mothercat Ltd, Dantata & Sawoe Construction and RCC Limited, with contract numbers 6136, 6137 and 6138, respectively.
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, who announced this in Abuja, said that the sacking of the contractors became necessary due to delay in job performance and failure to fulfill their contractual obligations as required by the Standard Conditions of Contract.
Umahi also stated that the projects were awarded on December 3, 2012, and were abandoned by the contractors with no genuine commitment towards executing the projects after accepting the considerations offered by the Federal Government.
“This has affected the timely completion of the projects, and, thus, resulted in the expiration of the contracts by effluxion of time. By these acts they are exposing the road users to untold hardship due to the deplorable condition of the road projects,” Umahi stressed.
The Works Minister, therefore, directed the engineers in charge to take steps to take over from the affected companies immediately, adding that this directive is without prejudice to the exercise of other rights of the Federal Government under the contract.
He warned that the ministry, under his watch, will not condone acts of unseriousness and sabotage by contractors whose plan is to become a clog in the wheel of progress of this administration, which is determined to change the ugly narrative of Nigeria’s road infrastructure.
Umahi reiterated that the government will not hesitate in terminating all projects that are funded but are non-performing, especially, the projects affected by this termination are the dualisation of Obajana – Benin Road, section II.