The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved $328.87 million contracts for consultancy services for the supervision of the various railway projects in the country.
It also approved N115.4 billion for the dualisation of the proposed Kano-Kazaure-Kongolam highway in Katsina State from single carriageway to a dual carriageway.
Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi and his Works and Housing counterpart, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), as well as the Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor and her Health counterpart, Dr. Olorunimbe Mamora, announced these after the week’s virtual FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Amaechi said he presented two memoranda on the consultancy services and the concessioning of the Onitsha River Port.
“…The first one has to do with the contract for consultancy services for the supervision of the various railway projects. We have about three railway projects, and their construction has not started. They include the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, Kano-Maradi and the Abuja-Warri lines.
“For the consultancy services, the following contractors were approved with $183.7 million: GIX Engineers Infrastructure Excellence/Yaroso and Partnership Limited, Core Consulting Engineering Plc. That’s for Abuja to Warri.
“For the consultancy services for supervision of Port Harcourt-Maiduguri railway, with branch lines to Bonny Deep Seaport and Port Harcourt Industrial Park and then to Owerri, we have Kyari Consults SDMBHD/Jamood Global Services Limited at $97.5 million. The first one is $38.4 million.
“The last one is for consultancy services for the supervision of Kano-Katsina-Jibia-Maradi rail line to TEAM (Technics Engineering Architecture Marketing Nigeria Limited) for $47,670,000 million. All of them are for a period of 36 months. That’s the first.
“The second one is that the Cabinet approved a agreement for the Ministry of Transportation to concession the Onitsha River Port to a company called Inversal Elysium Consortium. They are to manage the river port for 30 years,” he said.
Asked why the Federal Government abandoned the agreements with China on the construction of railway across the country, Amaechi said: “Actually, that is why there is a delay. We were waiting on the Chinese to give us the loans we applied for. Till today, they’ve not replied. They kept delaying us. Will the delay extend our tenure? The answer is no.
“We’ve gone to Standard Chartered Bank. While they’ve done financial closure, they’ve approved some level of funding. We are also pursuing Port Harcourt-Maiduguri line with Standard Chartered Bank. The Lagos-Kano, part of it will come from Standard Chartered Bank, and part of it will come from some commercial banks in China,” he said.
Fashola said Council approved a contract for the dualisation of the Kano-Kazaure-Kongolam Road at the cost of N115.4 billion.
The minister explained that the project, which covers 131.4 kilometres, is expected to be completed within a period of 48 months.
“The instructive thing is that the financing will be done by the Tax Credit Scheme of Bua International Limited. And they will use Messrs PW Construction Nigeria Limited, a company in which they have acquired some interest, to undertake the construction,” he said.
Ikeazor said Council approved an Energy Transition Plan for the country.
“This memo was presented as a plan for Nigeria to achieve net zero carbon emission. This will clearly set out the pathway for Nigeria in achieving this,” she said.
The minister said FEC also approved a second memo to aid the Waste Battery Management Policy for Nigeria.
Mamora said Council approved the award of contract for consultancy services on the building of the corporate headquarters of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Abuja.
“The need has become inevitable to expand what is on the ground to improve the operational efficiency of that agency. Happily, the Council considered the memo and approved same,” he said.
