By Nasir Imam

He made the disclosure yesterday at a meeting with contractors, consultants and officials of the Ministry of Works to review progress of federal road projects, outstanding payments to contractors and consultants and public opinion on the performance of the projects.
The debt profile of the ministry at the inception of the tenure of the minister in July 2003 was N48.2 billion.
Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe disclosed that the federal government has disbursed about N25 billion to the ministry for its on-going capital projects within the first half of the year. He added that another sum of N37 billion was about to be released from the total allocation of N68 billion for capital (road) projects of the ministry in the 2005 budget.
Senator Ogunlewe assured that all road projects which have attained 70 per cent and above levels of completion will be completed within this year. He urged the contractors to expedite work on their projects and send in their certificates for prompt payment.
The minister announced the reduction of tender fees from the previous sum of one million naira to one hundred thousand naira. He said the reduction was to encourage more contractors to participate in bidding for federal road projects and thereby increase competition and the quality of service provided by the ministry.
Senator Ogunlewe appealed to the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), of the NNPC and the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company, to allocate bitumen directly to contractors and not through any third party, marketer or agents. He said bitumen was a product consumed solely by construction firms, and the direct sale of the product to them will enhance their performance, quicken the pace of work and reduce both the costs and time of construction.
In the course of the meeting, the minister also received the report of the ad-hoc committee set-up to examine ways of improving relationship between the Federal Ministry of Works (client), consultants and contractors on highway projects which was inaugurated on Wednesday, 6th July, 2005, by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed (OON). Senator Ogunlewe challenged the consultants, contractors and officials to address the seeming disparity in standards of works on roads in the FCT and other parts of the country. He said there was need to maintain a uniform high standard of roads construction all over the country irrespective of costs or any other considerations.