Abuja — The House of Representatives yesterday ordered the Federal Ministry of Aviation to suspend further works on the N63.5 billion second Abuja Airport runway project pending the completion of its investigation into matter.
The House also resolved to invite officials of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)to come and assess the contract and brief it on its propriety and cost effectiveness.
This followed the unanimous passage by the House of a motion for the probe of the 4 kilometre runway contract, which award to the German construction giant, Julius Berger was approved at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting of December 16, 2009. The contract covers the design and construction of the runway and it was expected to be executed within 24 months.
Sponsored by Hon Dino Melaye (PDP, Kogi), the motion tiled "Construction of the Second Abuja Airport Runway at N63, 500,000,000", the motion urged the House to mandate its Committee on Aviation to carry out an investigative hearing on the contract and report to the House within three weeks.
Leading the debate on the motion, Melaye noted that N63.5 million is too outrageous to be expended on a runway when even the construction of complete airports both in the country and abroad in the past three years cost less than N50 billion.
He said facts available to him from the quotations from various companies wishing to undertake the project showed that these range between N24 billion and N26 billion and wondered why the Federal Ministry of Aviation had to give out the project for N63.5 billion to Julius Berger, a company globally known for construction of buildings and roads but with no reputation for building runways.
Melaye wondered what is so special about the project when the biggest aircraft in the world only needs a 3.6 kilometre runway.
Saying the contract cost was over bloated, Melaye added that the N64 billion was enough to build two new airports given the recent experience of some states of the federation which embarked on such projects.
He said Delta State awarded a contract for the building of a complete airport for less than N40 billion while the Akwa Ibom state government constructed its own airport equipped with modern navigational aids, four gates and so on for only N42 billion.
He also told the House that the Gombe International Airport was constructed for less than N50 billion, while the MM2 in Lagos only cost N30 billion.
"So, if we are constructing only a 4 kilometre runway for N64 billion, it is an outrageous wastage of the masses' money, as it means one kilometer will cost about N15 billion", he observed.
Melaye then urged the House to investigate the scam against the background that "some reputable companies that have expertise in constructing runways made quotations for as low as N24 billion but their proposals were rejected and the contract given to Julius Berger with no reputation for the construction of runways".
At this point, the Chairman of the House Committee on Aviation, Hon Bethel Amadi presented the Committee's preliminary observation on the contract award to the House.
He said the need for the project arose due to the fact that the current runway at the airport is about 27 years old, observing however that the construction of a new eunway will not necessarily increase the capacity of the airport, as two aircraft cannot land there at the same time.
He also observed that the contract award did not fully comply with Section 22 (a & b) of the Public Procurement Act, as it was not published in the Procurement Journal.
Amadi further submitted that the contract cost of N63.5 billion "is far too high, too expensive and outrageous" and asked that further action on the contract be suspended pending the completion of his committee's investigation on it.
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