Babatunde Fashola Minister of Power, Works and Housing on Tuesday disclosed that Federal Government is owing road contractors over N2.7 trillion for projects executed over the years.
The Minister disclosed this during an interactive session with Toby Okechukwu and members of House Committee on Works who were on oversight function on the implementation of 2017 Appropriation Act, reiterated the resolve of Federal Government to hand over some federal roads to intending States to repair.
He explained that large chunk of the amount was inherited from previous administrations and that it could not be settled due to poor budgetary allocation.
While responding to questions from the committee chairman, Fashola said: “our contractual liabilities are about N2.792 trillion, most of which are inherited projects.”
The Minister added that there was an outstanding of about N265.5 billion certificate for projects executed in 2017 financial year, stressing that efforts are ongoing to pay part of the liability.
He disclosed that the sum of N120 billion was released in December 2017 for second quarter.
“We have not paid this money, but we have continued to work. There is no state in the country that one federal road project or another is not going on. We are present in every state and the Federal Capital Territory.
“The difference may be that the projects are not located in places where each of us may want them to be.
“So, the fact that payment has not been made does not mean that work is not being done,” he explained.
Fashola added that some of the projects approved but have not taken-off was due to the cumbersome procurement process as contained in the Public Procurement Act (PPA), 2007.
“We have challenges with the award processes. Most of the time, the procurement process is very difficult. You have to do a lot of things. If you can come to our aid and amend the process, that will be helpful.
“At both the informal and formal interactions with our parliamentarians, I have raised this issue of the lengthy procurement processes.
“It is an area that we all have to look into to see what can be done to fast-track the work before us”, he said.
The minister also underscored the need for Federal Government to graciously hand over some federal roads to subnational government if the latter was desirous of repairing them, stressing that Lagos and Kaduna States, had since taken over some federal roads in their domains.
Other lawmakers including: Babangida Ibrahim; Abubakar Kannike; Patrick Asadu; Solomon Bulus-Maren and Emmanuel Ekon, who spoke during the oversight function, slow pace of the various ongoing roads projects, calling on the minister to urgently look into the matter.
In his remarks, Okechukwu who frowned at the development, reiterated the resolve of the House amend the Public Procurement Act with a view to fast track the procurement process.
“We’re aware of how the procurement process is. Most of the time, when you go to ministries, you see long queues of people waiting for the process. But on our part, we’ll have to look at the procurement process,” Okechukwu assured.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja
