Tinubu didn’t recommend any company for Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project – Umahi

Tinubu didn’t recommend any company for Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project – Umahi

The Federal Government on Saturday explained why it awarded
the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project to Hitech Construction Company Ltd.

 

The Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, made the explanation
during an inspection tour of the highway project in Lagos.

 

“Some people say that it didn’t go through a competitive
bidding.

 

“I want to explain this: we have three types of procurement
allowed by law,” he said.

 

Umahi listed the three types as restrictive procurement,
selective/competitive bidding, and open bidding.

 

“When we started this project, we asked for companies that
have up to five wirtgne concrete paver.

 

“You will agree with me that until we started this, the
concrete paver was not common in Nigeria as it is today.

 

“We had to look for a company that had done this kind of
project before, and that is Hitech.”

 

He noted that Hitech reconstructed the Oworonshoki Apapa
Road.

 

“We saw that they got it right, so we called them on Section
1.

 

“Then, we used restrictive bidding, which we sent to BPP
(Bureau for Public Procurement) and we sent to the Federal Executive Council
and they looked at it and corrected where they should and passed it
accordingly.

 

“When other companies started bringing in some equipment,
because they saw that Ministry of Works is insisting, especially where we have
high water table, that we must use concrete, they started to bring in concrete
equipment,” he said.

 

Umahi said that the Federal Government consequently opened
Section 2 of the project to selective bidding and selected some companies and
they bid.

 

He said that Hitech won the bidding.

 

The minister said that in Section 3A and 3B, the same thing
happened.

 

“We have not gone outside the law, we have not gone outside
the Procurement Act.”

 

He emphasised that President Bola Tinubu did not recommend
any company for the highway project.

 

“I want to say that there is no corruption in it. It is very
transparent,” he added. (NAN)

Source: Tinubu didn’t recommend any company for Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project – Umahi

 - NigerianEye
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