The Federal Executive Council, FEC, approved contracts for $328.87 million for consulting services for the supervision of the different railway projects in the country.
The FEC also approved N115.4billion for the dualization of the proposed Kano-Kazaure-Kongolam highway in Katsina state from a single carriageway to a dual carriageway.
These were revealed to House of Representatives correspondents after the week’s virtual FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Transport Minister Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who gave a breakdown of his ministry’s presentations at the meeting, said he submitted two memorandums, one of which was on consulting services, adding that the second was for the river port concession of Onitsha. .
“The Ministry of Transportation presented two memorandums and the first has to do with the consulting services contract for the supervision of the different railway projects.
“Remember that we have about three rail projects that haven’t started construction yet and they include Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, Kano-Maradi and then Abuja-Warri.
“For consulting services, the following contractors were approved, with a total cost of $183.7 million. The contractors GIX Engineers Infrastructure Excellence/Yaroso & Partnership Ltd, Core Consulting Engineering Plc. That is for Abuja to Warri.
“For consulting services for the supervision of the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Railway, with branches 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 is $38.4 million.
“The last one is consulting services for the supervision of the Kano-Katsina-Jibia-Maradi railway line to TEAM (Technics Engineering Architecture Marketing Nigeria Limited) and it is for $47,670,000 million. All of them are for a period of 36 months. That’s the first.
“The second is that the cabinet approved a concession agreement for the Ministry of Transport to concession the Onitsha river port to a company called Universal Elysium Consortium. They are going to manage the river port for 30 years,” he said.
Asked why the Federal Government is abandoning the agreements signed with China on the construction of the railway in the country, he explained “in reality, that is why there is a delay.
“We were waiting for the Chinese to give us the loans we requested and to this day they have not responded. They kept delaying us, will the delay extend our mandate? The answer is no.”
“We’ve gone to Standard Chartered Bank and 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.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), said Council approved a contract for the dualization of the Kano-Kazaure-Kongolam Road at the cost of N115.4 billion.
He explained that the project, which covers 131.4 kilometers, is expected to be completed within a period of 48 months.
“Ministry of Works and Housing presented one memory for the dualisation of the Kano-Kazaure-Kongoland highway. 131.4 kilometers from a single carriage way to dual carriage way. So, Council approved that proposal at a cost of N115,425, 896,907.15 kobo (in billion) over 48months.
“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.
Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor, said Council, during the session, approved an Energy Transition Plan for the country.
“This memo was presented as a plan for Nigeria to achieve net zero carbon emission, the Minister said, noting, “this will clearly set out the pathway for Nigeria in achieving this”, she said.
Ikeazor further said FEC also approved a second memo to aid the Waste Battery Management Policy for Nigeria.
This policy, according to her, “will create a lot of jobs in the circular economy for Nigeria and at the same time protect the health of Nigerians to make sure that hazardous waste like waste batteries are properly disposed of with regulations, including recycling in Nigeria as well.
She said her ministry also presented to Council, a report on the last COP 26 (the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference) which Nigeria attended, and the country’s plans for COP 27 going forward.
Minister of State for Health, Olorunimbe Mamora said Council during the closed door, also approved the award of contract for consultancy services to facilitate the building of the corporate headquarters of National Health Insurance Scheme in Abuja.
He said: “The need has become inevitable to expand what is on grand to improve the operational efficiency of that agency, which is the National Health Insurance Scheme and happily, the Council considered the memo approved same.”
