Indications emerged at the weekend that three major highways in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, being rehabilitated and expanded with billions of naira are based on 32-year-old engineering designs.
The roads, the Outer Northern Express (ONEX) Lot II; Outer Northern Expressway (ONEX) Lot I; and Airport Expressway Project Lot I and II, worth N254 billion. The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and the Federal Capital Development Agency FCDA) awarded the contracts for the three highways in 2009. Provision of engineering infrastructure to Abuja was also included in the contract.
The Outer Northern Express (ONEX) Lot II and Outer Northern Expressway (ONEX) Lot I are roads measuring 19.5 kilometres each.
The two roads, Lot I-Asokoro Extension and Lot II- Kubwa Road, however, were awarded with different contract sums at N66 billion and N88 billion respectively. The rehabilitation and expansion of Airport Expressway Project Lot I and II costs N59 billion and N41 billion respectively, totalling N254 billion for the three highways.
The Debt Management Office (DMO) was the first government agency to finance the projects, but it suddenly withdrew, offering no reason for its action and the FCTA took over. Thereafter, variation was done on the contracts, which saw the contract sum jumping to N100 billion.
Senate Committee on the FCT uncovered these details on an oversight tour of the projects last week. Committee Chairman, Senator Smart Adeyemi said it was unacceptable that the highways would be rehabilitated with ‘obsolete engineering designs,’ which he described as ‘death traps’.
Project Manager of one of the affected construction firms, confirmed to the committee that ‘the engineering designs were truly obsolete’ but absolved the company of any blame when he informed the lawmakers that the engineering designs used for the road were made since 1981, adding that, “though the open drainage is for surface water drainage, although with a high risk of accident.”
Unimpressed, the committee asked why modifications were not done to upgrade the designs with the provision of kerbs, slabs and rails, as is the practise in most modern cities.
This, Adeyemi said, would not only act as safety nets for motorists, it would also provide employment for youths in the FCT, in terms of maintenance of the roads.
The committee promptly summoned the contractors to submit the engineering designs as well as appear in the Senate to defend them. Speaking with newsmen after inspecting the projects, Adeyemi said: “The committee observed with dismay that the three sites visited displayed a common feature of road construction with obsolete and outdated engineering designs.
His deputy, Senator Domingo Obende warned the contractors not to envisage any variation on the contract sum. He spoke against the backdrop of what he described as the “high cost of the contract sum.”
| Posted: at | |
TRENDING GISTS 
Leo XIV Celebrates First Mass After Historic Election As Pope
He Laughed At Me When I Had Issues With The Authorities -Bobrisky React To VeryDarkMan’s Arrest
PHOTOS: Troops Arrest Notorious Gunrunners, Recover Arms In Kaduna
PHOTOS: Young Woman Brutally Murdered By Suspected Ritualists, Priv@te Part Removed In Ogun
Woman Slams Her Husband For Allegedly Having Unprotected S3x With Random Girls After Publicly Apologizing To Her
Actress, Laide Bakare Crowned UN Ambassador Of Peace
VIDEO: President Tinubu Conferred With a Chieftaincy Title in Anambra State