Project variation: You can’t dictate to us, FG tells contractors

• Begins construction of 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal road

The federal government has declared that there will be no more variation after a mobilisation fee has been paid for a project.

The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, an engineer, who disclosed this in Lagos, said many contractors were fighting him over project variation, declaring that the policy of the government is that there would be no more variation after a mobilisation fee has been paid.

Speaking with newsmen in Lagos when he inspected some road projects, including the ongoing rehabilitation of the Third Mainland Bridge, Umahi said contractors could not dictate to the government.

The minister and his team, including the Lagos controller of works, Mrs Olukorede Kesha and other officials of the ministry, also visited the upper and under-deck of bridges in Lagos.

Umahi also handed over the construction of the 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal road project to the contractor, signalling the commencement of work.

Daily Trust Saturday reports that inflation has pushed up the cost of construction materials, prompting some contractors to demand for price review. But the minister said that while the government recognised that there had been a spike in the prices of construction materials, a contractor is not entitled to a price review after mobilisation fee had been paid.

He said, “As a matter of our policy, if we give you a project and you delay it and you have our money in your hand, we will not pay you variation for the level of your delay. 

“We cannot continue to vary our projects on a daily basis. So, we have a mechanism which is called variation of price, and so, if at the time of award of a project, the basic prices are already higher than your basic prices, you are entitled to our review, but otherwise, our policy is that if we give you mobilisation, you would not enjoy variation of prices within the limit of the amount of mobilisation we have given to you.”

On the Third Mainland Bridge project, Umahi said the under-deck and surface of the bridge would be fitted with a close circuit television (CCTV).

He also disclosed that the president had approved funds for the completion of Eko Bridge, also in Lagos, saying the government would replicate the work being carried out on Third Mainland Bridge on Eko Bridge.