Minister of Works Engr. David Umahi has said the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project complied 100 percent with the Procurement Act.
The minister spoke through his special adviser on media, Barr. Orji Uchenna Orji, yesterday, while reacting to concerns expressed by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
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Atiku had accused the government of awarding the contract to HiTech construction without competitive bidding but rather due to personal relationship between the president and chairman of the firm.
However, in a swift reaction, Umahi said the accusations were, “intrinsically superficial, baseless, self-serving and politically motivated to imprint malice in the minds of unsuspecting members of the public, especially the gullible”.
He said, “For the avoidance of doubt, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project complied 100 percent with the provisions of the Procurement Act and was awarded based on the EPC+ F procurement process; that is to say, the project is an unsolicited bid done on EPC+F”.
He explained further “Under this model of procurement, the investor provides all the designs, part of the financing and construction, while the FGN pays counterpart funds. The bid of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project came through this process.
“The ministry received the bid, worked on it, and sent the same to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP). The BPP worked on it in accordance with the stipulations of the Procurement Act and came up with a competitive price slightly lower than the ministry’s price and even lower than the cost of similar projects awarded five years ago, including the Bodo-Bonny project awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. The BPP issued a certificate of “No Objection” on the project to the Federal Ministry of Works as required by the Procurement Act.
Consequently, the Federal Ministry of Works took the certificate of “No Objection” to the Federal Executive Council (FEC), and the FEC deliberated on and approved the same. It would be recalled that the FEC had first approved the project model on EPC+F before the process of procurement even started.
“This is a testament that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, section 1, followed due process”.
He, therefore, submitted that “the claim of the former Vice President that the son of the President of Nigeria has interest in CDK Integrated Industries Ltd is not tenable as the company that did bid for the project was Hitech Construction Company Nigeria Ltd., which has a full legal personality, as it were. Again, these claims are nothing but a digression showing the absolute frustration of a false accuser who is bereft of facts to substantiate his claims.”