Ogun owes contractors N70bn on road projects FEBRUARY 17, 2014 BY SEGUN OLATUNJI 1 Comment Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun The Ogun State Government owes a total debt of over N70bn on road construction, documents obtained by The PUNCH on Sunday have shown. The documents, detailing the roads, the initial costs and vetted variations, were submitted to the state House of Assembly by the Commissioner for Works, Olamilekan Adegbite, on Thursday. The state owes the N70bn debt to nine out of the 10 contractors handling various road projects across the state. The 10 contractors handling ongoing projects in the state, as listed in the documents, include China Civil Engineering and Construction Company, PW Nigeria Limited, CSCC, Kepxing, Borini Prono, Veapo, First August Nigeria Limited, HI-TECH, Siktobs and Zebra Gold. The total debt owed CCECC, which has fully completed five of the major road projects in Abeokuta, the state capital, is put at N14.67bn while the state also owes PW the sum of N6.539bn on other ongoing projects. Similarly, other contractors owed by the state government on ongoing road projects include CSCC (N9.547bn), Kepxing (N2.427bn), Borini Prono (N1.986bn), Veapo (N1.931bn), First August (N1.228bn), Hi-TECH (N297.5m) and Siktobs (N102.2m). Further breakdown of the debts shows that while the state government is owing CCECC the sum of N693.247m on the already completed Ibara/Ita-Eko/Sokori/Totoro Road and N783.164m on the Grade Separation Fly-over Bridge at Ibara Roundabout, it has yet to pay any amount to the company on the construction of the Sokori Roundabout, the road linking Sokori Roundabout to Obasanjo House and the pedestrian bridge along Sokori Road, which have been equally completed. Efforts by our correspondent to get the Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Olayiwola Ojodu, to confirm the receipt of the documents were unsuccessful as he did not answer calls made to his mobile phone. However, a member of the House representing Ipokia State Constituency, Abiodun Akovoyon, said the documents had been submitted to the Assembly. “Yes, the documents have been submitted to the Assembly,” Akovoyon told our correspondent on the phone on Sunday. Efforts to also reach Adegbite to further clarify the figures proved abortive. He neither picked his phone nor reply the text message sent to him on the matter. But the state Commissioner for Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who spoke with our correspondent on the phone said, “If we are owing contractors N70bn won’t they cry out? That information is not true. It’s not correct.” There has been a heated debate between the state government and the opposition parties in the state over alleged debt accumulation by the Governor Ibikunle Amosun-led administration, following the government’s request for the approval of the state Assembly to obtain a fresh loan of N19bn to execute its projects.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Feb 2014 01:35:54 +0000
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