A five kilometre road in Kanam township, even though abandoned since March 2013 has already gulped N106,829,806, according to revelations yesterday at the the Judicial Commission of Inquiry sitting in Jos.

A petition made by a pressure group, Concerned Citizens of Kanam, and submitted to the Commission of Inquiry as memorandum had alleged that in the petition that the contractors abandoned the road project after collecting huge sums in advanced or mobilisation payment.

When the petition came up for consideration at the Commission, in Memo number JCI/86/2016 yesterday, the Commission was told that the contract was revoked and re-awarded to another construction company on July 4, 2013.

Speaking during cross examination, Engr. Mustapha Abdulsalami, project engineer of SDY Engineering & Construction Ltd who won the contract in the first instance, told the commission that after the contract was awarded, a mobilisation payment of N33,055,784.50  was paid to the company.

He however confirmed that due to certain technical reasons, the plateau state government and the contractor agreed to “mutually terminate” the contract in the course of proceedings.

Accordingly, the contract was terminated and the sum of N39.9m paid again to SDY Engineering & Construction Ltd.
Still under cross examination, the Commission was told that the same project contract was then re-awarded to another company (Rock Construction Company) on July 4, 2013.

Personnel Manager of Rock Construction Company, Martins Bari, confirmed to the commission that it won the contract at the project sum of N519,590, 610, and was given an initial payment N155,877,183.50. Following this initial sum, another payment of N181,856,713 further paid, bringing the total payment to approx N337,733,896.50.

Although outstanding payment due from government to Rock Construction Company stood at N181, 856,713.50, representing about 30 per cent of total contract sum, Bari told the commission that the work is about 75-80 per cent completed as asphalt has been laid over a stretch of over one kilometre, and work on the project was stopped since March 2015 as the company could not get more payment from the government.

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Plateau Judicial Commission of Inquiry: 5km road in Kanam gulped over N106 million