Nigeria LNG applauded for committing to completion of Bodo-Bonny federal road in River State

The Hon. Minister  of Works, His Excellency, Sen. Engr. Nweze David  Umahi,CON has commended Nigeria  NLG Limited for its commitment to funding  the completion  of the  Bodo-Bonny Federal road in Rivers  State in line  with the tripartite  agreement with Federal  Government  and Julius  Berger  Nigeria Plc, and for indicating  interest  to connect the road to East  West Road to maximize the economic potentials  of the area. The Hon Minister  made this commendation when the management  of Nigeria  NLG   Ltd led by its MD/ CEO ,Dr Philip  Mshelbilla, visited him in his office at Federal  Ministry  of Works Headquarters,Mabushi Abuja on 11th December,2023. He further  commended  them for  putting  the interest  of Nigeria  first in their contractual  negotiations and for keying  into the innovations and ideals of the Renewed  Hope Administration of President  Asiwaju  Bola Ahmed Tinubu,GCFR with respect  to quality, innovations, cost effectiveness  and timely completion  of  road projects embarked  upon by Federal Government.

“Thank you very much. When I see Nigerians that are standing for the country, I feel very excited because Nigeria is our only country. We can’t mortgage the country; we can’t sell the country.

I saw your letter with regard to requests by Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, the contractor, to increase the contract sum. And you and your board together  with your team vehemently stood against that.  That gave me some teeth to bite because I saw a commitment by all parties that this project will not increase beyond the augmented amount of 199,000,000,000.

So, I want to commend you for that.”

The Hon. Minister enjoined Julius  Berger  to respect the spirit and letters  of the tripartite  agreement and go back to site, assuring  that Federal  Government  would   offer compassionate  considerations on the remaining  16% uncompleted  job without  necessarily expanding the contract envelope.

“I discovered by the letters of JB that they have abandoned the site, and that’s against the contract they signed, even if they needed to leave the site, the general conditions of contract specify the procedures  for notices in such a circumstance

Well, we have discussed with them and I said, we are going to look at the remaining 16% on a compassionate ground,   and see whether there is any merit, and  we can see if there is any money left in the contingency, but definitely will not expand the envelope.

Expanding the envelope means you are going back to your Board. Expanding the envelope means my going back to Federal Inland Revenue, going back to BPP, going back to Mr. President, going back to  Federal Executive Council. So it’s a long journey, and that will not allow that project to be completed as planned”

Speaking  on behalf  of the management  of Nigeria NLG Ltd, the  MD/CEO reiterated the  vision of the company  in not only building  a globally competitive LNG  company but also in contributing  towards  building  a better  Nigeria by  delivering  quality  infrastructure through projects  such  as the Bobo-Bonny  road being  funded  by NLNG. He assured  that everything  possible  would  be done to complete  the road on time  as provided under the agreement bearing in mind the concerns of the contractor handling the project.

“With regards to  coming back to the Bonny Bodo road, we see two parts to it, the main road itself. We are really looking forward to that being completed on time. We have had commitments in the past from the contractor around its completion and we do understand that there are concerns around  what is happening  in the economy  now”

He thanked  the Hon. Minister  of Works for his commitment to road infrastructure  revolution  and expressed hope that the economy  of Nigeria  would  bounce back with the  manifest  determination  of President  Tinubu’s administration  in fixing  the critical  infrastructure  for the growth of our economy. He assured the Hon. Minister of the  readiness  of the company  to partner  with  Federal  Government  always  in her developmental  efforts.

“We have indicated an interest to pursue the extension of that road from Bodo so that it connects to the East West Road. That way you then have a complete corridor of major roads connecting to East West Road, rather than ending in Bodo.

In summary, just to thank the Minister  again, your commitment to projects like this across the country  will indeed make a huge difference to the common man, to transportation of people, farmers who need to move their products”