Undue delay occasioned by bureaucracy and poor funding in the execution, rehabilitation and reconstruction works on critical roads in the country has cost the Federal Government at least N679 billion, an investigation has revealed.
The East-West road comes tops with N515 billion; Lagos-Ibadan N144 billion and Sagamu-Benin road comes third with N20 billion
An official of the Ministry of Works and Housing said the losses arose from contract variation, inflation and foreign exchange fluctuation.
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Consequently, the government might end up spending the sum of N1.093 trillion on the 127.621km Lagos – Ibadan Expressway, the 181km Sagamu-Benin and the 675 km East-West roads, as against their original costs when they were separately flagged-off.
The East-West road was first awarded in 2006 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo for N211 billion but the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan added 23.9km to the East-West Road to link Calabar with the coastal town of Oron in Akwa-Ibom State and revalued the contract from N211 billion to N726 billion after the production of the engineering drawing.
The East-West road project include Section 1, the 87-kilometer Warri-Kaiama in Delta and Bayelsa states awarded to Setraco Nigeria Limited at the total sum of N64.125 billion. The Section II, 101km Kaiama-Port Harcourt road, in Bayelsa and Rivers states was awarded to Julius Berger Plc at the cost of N79.23 billion. The Section III Port Harcourt-Eket, which covers 99 km, was awarded to Reynolds Construction Company Nig. Limited at the cost of N35.6 billion.
Section IV Eket-Oron, Akwa Ibom State, which covers 50 kilometers, was also awarded to Gitto Construzioni Generali Nig. Limited at the cost of N26 billion.
The Ogun State axis measuring 98 km and awarded in October 2014 at the sum of N71 billion, he said, has garnered a variation of N20 billion that move it from N71 billion to N91billion.
