•LFG may revoke tax credit deal with MTN on Enugu-Onitsha expressway
•Assures south-east leaders of Tinubu’s commitment to fixing bad roads
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has said that the reforms by the current administration, especially the floating of the naira as well as fuel subsidy removal, has shot up the N13 trillion road projects inherited by the Bola Tinubu administration to about N20 trillion.
Stressing that the reforms were necessary, Umahi who spoke when he received a delegation from the Anambra and Enugu caucus of the 10th National Assembly, assured the people of South-east of the commitment of the president to the transformation of road infrastructure in the South-east as well as other parts of the country.
The lawmakers were in his office to seek the federal government’s intervention on the completion of the construction of Enugu-Onitsha expressway handled by RCC Ltd and funded by MTN under the road infrastructure development and refurbishment investment tax credit scheme.
Umahi expressed sympathy over the lives that had been lost along the uncompleted sections of the expressway, especially the recent incident of a tanker explosion on the Ugwu-Onyema axis of the road that killed scores of people.
He said: “Again, we should also be grateful to Mr. President. Since he became president, we’ve not heard about farmers and herders clashes in the South-east. Mr. President inherited 2,064 projects, totaling about N13 trillion, and today, those projects will be over N20 trillion by reason of the floating of the naira and the removal of fuel subsidy.
“It’s nobody’s fault. But by his good heart and commitment to rewriting the story of this country, he will make Nigeria great again.”
At the the meeting, a statement by Umahi’s spokesman, Uchenna Orji, noted that it was resolved, among other things, that the Federal Ministry of Works would write MTN to demand that the company should commit irrevocably to pay contractors on the project a minimum of N15 billion every month for the next 10 months.
According to the statement, this is to enable the contractor to fast-track the completion of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, failing which the ministry would initiate the termination process of the project.
It was further resolved that MTN would need three contractors to do the 79 kilometers within the original contract sum of MTN’s N202 billion. Besides, the remaining 72 kilometres of the road, the statement stressed, shall be awarded to other contractors through due process.
Noting that MTN and RCC would be invited to bid (again) too, the ministry lamented that what MTN is doing is not in line with the tax credit executive order.
“It was noted in the meeting that the delay on the job which was due to poor funding and poor contract execution has resulted to over 100 per cent increase of the project cost, and to allow MTN more than 11 months on the job could further push the contract to increase by over 200 per cent and this is unacceptable to the federal government,” the ministry added.
Speaking during the event, the leader of the delegation and Minority Whip of the Senate, representing Enugu West, Senator Osita Ngwu, expressed worries that some of the projects were not receiving adequate funding required to complete the projects in a record time.
He made particular reference to the Enugu-Onitsha expressway that was awarded to RCC and funded through the tax credit, lamenting that some sections of the road had become a death trap to road users.
He stated that the delegation was compelled by the recent tanker mishap on the Ugwu-Onyeama axis of the road in Enugu state to make the visit to the minister.
He expressed the readiness of the federal lawmakers to offer necessary collaborations and cooperation that would help in tackling the challenges and bottlenecks faced by the ministry in ensuring the completion of the said road.
“We appreciate Mr. President, but we are worried that it is not just about putting projects across our zone, but when these projects are not funded, it looks like it is just a game. We are worried that some of the projects that are in the South-east are not receiving funds that can make it progress so that we can have benefits for such projects. And when it is not funded, it becomes a worry to us,” Ngwu added.
On his part, the Senator representing Anambra Central in the Senate, Victor Umeh, pleaded with the president to give accelerated intervention on funding to the roads in the South-east so that the zone could fully benefit from the economic development agenda of the administration.
“Through our oversight functions, we’ve been able to move around Nigeria in the various committees that we serve and we’re able to see the great works the president is doing in Nigeria to transform our transportation infrastructure through ambitious road projects and railway projects across Nigeria.
“We are from the South-east Nigeria, and while we applaud the great strides the president is making to see that our roads are good and our railway infrastructure is actualised, we want to plead, on behalf of our people that South-east should be given accelerated attention because of the infrastructure deficit we’ve had before he came on board,” Umeh noted.
