10th August, 2011
The Federal Government on Wednesday approved a hefty variation of the contract sum for the construction of sections 1 (Warri-Kaima in Delta State) and subsection 11-11 (Ahoada-Kaima in Rivers/Bayelsa States) of the East West Road from N139, 931,197,097.37 to N245, 899,616,680.02.
This was one of the outcomes of today’s meeting of the Federal Executive Council, FEC.
Labaran Maku, the Minister of Information who briefed journalists at the end of the meeting, said the increase in the contract sum of the project being handled by Setraco Nigeria Limited, was as a result of increase in the scope of work to be done by the contractor on the road.
Elder Godsday Orubebe, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs submitted a memo to the Council for the approval of the increase in the cost of the contract.
The road was one of the intervention projects of Federal Government in the Niger Delta region.
“The augmentation became imperative to adequately complete the East West Road project, which by its location in the oil industry zone is an emerging heavily trafficked road in Nigeria which calls for a stable road pavement that is less prone to frequent failure and disruption of traffic flow,†said Maku.
“As a result of scope of work, additional jobs would be created in line with this administration’s transformation agenda,†he added.
FEC also approved the award of contract for the construction of two substations at Akure and Olorunsogo to Matelec/S.AL as part of the strategic plan to boost the capacity of the national grid to handle expected increase in electricity generation by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria and the private power producers.
The substation to be constructed at Akure is a 2x150MVA, 330/132KV plus 2x60MVA, 132 with a single turn in/turn out and 2×330 KV Line bay extensions at Oshogbo and Benin North Sub-stations with the contract cost of $19,025,537.5 and N1.573,779,429.43 inclusive of N505,050,433.43 for five per cent VAT on onshore payments, contingency and compensation.
The substation at Olorunsogo is a 2x150MVA, 330/132KV plus 2x60MVA with the contract cost of $15,129,749.22 and N1,267,800,811.75 inclusive of provisional sum of N377,182,637.80 for five percent onshore payment, compensation and contingency. Both projects are to be completed within 24 months.
FEC also approved a N150 million contract for procurement design and implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning software for the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, to Computer Warehouse Group.
By Oluokun Ayorinde/Abuja