The Minister of Works, David Nweze Umahi, has revealed that Nigeria would save N640 billion from terminating Julius Berger’s contract to construct the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road.
Umahi made the disclosure when he appeared before the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee to defend the government’s decision for the termination.
Recall that in November 2024, the Minister had announced the termination of the award of the construction of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road to Julius Berger. The termination followed the failure by Berger to meet up with contractual conditions.
In a follow-up development, the Nigerian Senate had issued an arrest warrant for Julius Berger. This is due to its failure to honour an invitation.
Giving further explanation on why the Julius Berger contract was terminated, Umahi said that the road project awarded to the company was terminated recently after the contractor failed to abide by the terms of the contract.
Umahi also told the Committee that he was not happy with the way the road project was handled for about seven years.
“By my engagement approach, I saved the nation N640 billion from Julius Berger. We wouldn’t if we had accepted to do the job for N1.5 trillion,” Umahi said.
“Now we are not; we are saving the country over N640 billion. And we are improving the architecture of the road.
“The problem of Berger is not just a problem of cost. We said in our conditions for acceptance that this project must be completed in 14 months.
“This project is a non-vary project unless the Dollar goes beyond N2000 per Dollar. They refused all those conditions, and they set booby traps for us.
“We terminated the job within our rights as executives. They were fairly treated,” the Minister stated.
source: Daily Post
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