The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has said that the way Nigeria’s budgetary allocation is designed is not encouraging contractors to complete federal road projects across the country timely.
He also said contractors will not be stopped from making use of asphalt in their construction of roads but they must sign an indemnity agreement of 30 years duration of the roads with the ministry.
The minister said that construction of concrete roads would not be enforced on projects awarded already, adding that contractors would need to give assurance that roads built with asphalt would last up to 30 years even though the concrete roads would last longer.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Monday, Umahi said the release of the fund to contractors on an annual basis make road projects linger as in most cases the contractor access little funds to purchase the necessary material to carry out their job, adding that the delay further gives rise to contract variation as inflation affects the original amount agreed for the project.
He, however, appealed to the National Assembly to release over N650 it withheld for some projects across the country which he said are almost complete but lack of the fund is still keeping the contractors on site
