At a meeting of the Federal Executive Council on Wednesday, President Muhammadu Buhari approved a change cost of N1,640,406,426.26 to build three 15MVA injection substations.
Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, spoke on behalf of Mohammed Bello, the FCT Minister, and said that land disputes and the exchange rate hurt the contract that had been given out in the past.
He said that after the minister gave the memo to FEC, FEC approved the amount of N1,640,406,426.26, which was about N1,113,406,426 more than the original contract amount.
Babatunde Fashola is in charge of the Ministry of Works and Housing. The revised estimated total cost of the award of contract to fix up the Yola-Hong-Mubi Road in Adamawa State was also approved.
The new contract was for N29,826,449,000 billion, which was more than the original contract, which was for N21,841,578,000. The new contract was for N51,668,027,000.
Lai said, "I'm filling in for the Honorable Ministers of FCT and Works and Housing. The Minister of the FCT brought his memo asking for approval of an upward review of a contract for the building of three 15MVA injection substations at Live Camp in Abuja, instead of two 15MVA substations.
"In 2015, the Council signed a contract to get two 15 MVA by 33/11 KVA injection substations for Gwarimpa. This was done to improve the power supply there. Due to a dispute over who owned the land, the contractors couldn't get to the site for more than two years. By the time they were able to get there, prices had gone up and the dollar had gotten stronger, so they had to come back.
"They came back in 2018 and are back again today to say that, because of the number of people in Gwarimpa, they need not two but three MVA injection substations. The contract was approved today for the amount of N1,640,406,426.26, which is an increase of about N1,113,406,426. At first, the price was N527 million.
"The Honorable Minister of Works and Housing also wrote two memos, and both of them were approved. The first is a memo from the Minister to the Council asking for approval of the revised estimated total cost of the award of contract for the rehabilitation of the Yola-Hong-Mubi Road in Adamawa State, which is now N29,826,449,000 billion. This changes the original contract from N21,841,578,000 to N51,668,027,000.
"The contract was given to EC Construction Limited, and they have 24 more months to finish it."
"In his last memo, the Honorable Minister of Works and Housing asked council to approve giving Yobe State Government the money it was told to get back.
"You may remember that when the current administration took over, many states complained that under the previous administrations, they had built roads and bridges that were supposed to be built by the federal government. They asked the federal government to pay them back, so the federal government set up an inter-ministerial committee made up of the ministries of Works and Housing, Transport, and Education, and they came up with suggestions.
"Well, it's true that we're only telling you about this memo, which is about the refund the Yobe State government wants. The state government wants to be paid N18,663,843,109 for fixing up or building five federal roads.