Governor Muhammad Badaru of Jigawa State, on Saturday said he revoked the road contracts awarded by his predecessor due to incompetence and delay exhibited by contractors handling the projects.
The governor said this in a statement issued in Dutse by his Special Assistant on Media, Malam Muhammad Zaki.
In the statement, Badaru explained that the action was not meant to stall projects initiated by the immediate past administration in the state.
He said that the state government took the decision to terminate the contracts, based on technical advice given by the supervising ministry.
The governor said that the advice indicated that the contractors handling the projects had failed to meet stipulated standards and completion period.
According to him, the contractor collected more than a billion Naira which was not commensurate with work done on ground.
The governor explained that Gagarawa-Bosuwa road of 29.75kilometres was awarded on Dec. 16 2014 at a contract sum of N3.7billion with an 18 month completion period.
He said that the 42-kilometre Budinga-Rambazau-Tsangarwa-Maruta-Zandam Nagogo road, was also awarded on Dec. 16, 2014 at a contract sum of N5billion.
He said that the first phase covering Budinga-Tsangarwa had a completion period of 12 months and both contracts were awarded to one company
According to the governor, the company collected over N1billion as mobilisation fee for the two projects.
“To date, only 18 kilometres of site clearing and 6.3 kilometres of filling have been carried out on Gagarawa-Bosuwa ,more than six months after mobilisation.
“On Kila -Tsangarwa road, only five kilometers of site clearing and five kilometers of filling have been achieved, when the contractor should have reached 50 per cent completion, having been on site for six out of the 12 months completion period”, the governor said.
He said that the state government had no choice than to terminate the contract, recover public funds collected, and re-award same to a more competent and tested contractor.
Badaru said that this was being done in the interest of the communities the roads would serve.
He said that the rehabilitation of Gwaram -Basirka road, awarded in December 2014, was yet to commence because the contractor had not been mobilized to the site, and therefore, the contract was also terminated.
Badaru stated that the action taken was necessary due to raining season that had commenced.
He said that as a result of the delay in completing the projects on schedule and the continuous rise in price of materials, government had been incurring further losses due to price variations. (NAN)
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