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| Sen. Bala M. Abdulkadir |
Two contracting firms that abandoned roads contracts awarded to them by the immediate past APC led administration in Bauchi state are to refund the sum of N2, 821, 658, 328 .20 paid to them in form of overpayment for the said contracts.
This was revealed by the Asset and Recovery Committee set up by the present PDP led administration of Sen. Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir which gave the names of the firms as;
Messers QUMECS Nig. Ltd Messrs KANNOU Project Nig. Ltd that have since allegedly abandoned the sites of projects within Bauchi metropolis, and Jama’are Local Government Area of the state.
Spokesperson of the Committee, Umar Barau Ningi who briefed the press recently alleged that the financial recklessness was perpetrated by the contractors through what was termed as illegal upward review of original contract rates as discovered by the Recovery Committee set up by the present administration, in the course of its assigned duty to recover all alleged stolen funds and assets belong to the people of the state.
Umar Barau Ningi further said that one of the two roads in the metropolis was awarded to Messers QUMECS Nig. Ltd at an initial cost of N1, 957, 519, 297 .53 and was later reviewed upward twice in the sums of N1, 103, 734, 742 .13 and N1, 237, 202, 468 .13 respectively.
He explained that: “The sum of N133, 467, 726 were found to have been added to the contract sum as ‘Loss of Profit’ to compensate for the omission of asphalt work. This, the committee believes is too much a compensation.”
Accordingly, he said that the percentage of work done to date is 21.6% and the contract has been abandoned while the contractor has left the site, hence the committee established an overpayment of N537, 117, 385 .86 which is going to be recovered.
Barau Ningi also stated that contract for the second metropolitan road was awarded to Messers KANNOU Project Nig. Ltd at an original cost of N298, 596, 929 in November 2015 which contract was later reviewed upward to N463, 817, 177 .75 while the amount paid to the contractor is N412, 771, 115 while the value of work done is worth N298, 715, 521 .21.
“The illegal review of the original contract rate led to the overpayment of N414, 055, 593 .79. There is established collusion between some government officials and the contractor which resulted in the overpayment. The officials will be treated appropriately while recovery of the overpayment is being handled,” Ningi alleged.
According to the committee spokesman, contract for the design and construction of Itas – Atafowa –Magarya road in Jama’are LGA of the state was also awarded to Messers KANNOU Nig. Ltd at the original cost of N1, 455, 001, 214 .90 on 7th November 2016.
“This contract was later reviewed upward to N2, 979, 340, 218 .25. A total of N553, 978, 770 has been paid to the contractor while the value of work done is only N151, 122, 021. With the amount paid, only 5% of work is achieved. This contract is recommended to be determined and the amount of N402, 856, 749 .64 being overpayment to the contractor be recovered,” Ningi concluded.
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