31st March, 2011
Acivil engineering company, Lanfar Nigeria Limited, has dragged Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited before a Lagos High Court over a breach of contract.
In a statement of claims filed before the court by a Lagos lawyer, Barrister Olusaye Oki, on behalf of Lanfar Nigeria Limited, it was alleged that sometimes in April 2009, the claimant was invited by Coca-Cola to present a proposal for the design and construction of a storey building for the company to be sited at 16, Gerrald Road, Ikoyi Lagos, after which the company prepared three design options.
After negotiation between the two parties, the total sum of the bill of quantities was N32,316,122.57 as per the agreed drawings with a discount of 2.5 per cent which brought the final contract sum to N31,507,592.71. Thereafter, contract agreement was drawn up and sealed.
One of the clauses of the agreement stateed that mobilisation fee of 40 per cent shall be paid before commencement of work at a specific date, but this was delayed and upon its release, the defendant still insisted that the completion date would not be shifted and not only this, the supervising site manager redesigned the structure, the scope of the project was also increased on three different occasions, which were not part of the initial agreement.
The claimant averred further that the construction work was completed on 28 May, 2010 and remaned finishing when the defendant informed that it has defaulted to finish the project within the agreed time frame.
However, the project was commissioned on 18 August, 2010, the defendant then drew the final account which stated that the claimant was entitled to only N2,643,152.76 contrary to the claim of N11,788,037.21 being the total outstanding sum and when the defendant refused to pay, the claimant engaged the services of Messrs. Oluseye Oki to recover same.
Consequently, the claim of the civil engineering company against Coca-Cola are, N11,788,037.21 being the outstanding total sum, including variation costs by the defendant and interest on the total amount at the rate of 21 per cent until the total amount is liquidated as well as the cost of this legal action.