From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
Federal Ministry of Works has signed the Engineering, Procurement, Construction plus Finance (EPC+F) contract component of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway Project with Messrs. Hitech Construction Company Nigeria Limited.
In the signing ceremony which had in attendance the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Works, O. O. Adebiyi, director, Legal Services, Clement Assam, acting director, Road Design, Musa Saidu, managing director, Hitech Construction Limited, Dany Abboud and his team, the minister expressed gratitude to God Almighty for the initiative of the legacy project which was the dream of President Bola Tinubu years back and for coming to fruition under the Renewed Hope administration.
He assured that with the capacity of the contractor and the manifest political will of the president, the 750km Lagos – Calabar Coastal Highway project would be fully achieved by the power of God before the end of the second tenure of the president.
“We’re very grateful to God Almighty for this project that Mr. President initiated. A dream of about 27 years back is made flesh before us, and we are fortunate to be part of this wonderful, evolving, mega project, biggest ever known in Africa- the Lagos-Calabar Superhighway. So, today, we have signed the EPC+F contract, which is Engineering, Procurement, Construction plus Finance.”
On the importance of the agreement, he said: “Now the beauty of it is that the F component of EPC + F is what is being fulfilled today. So, by signing this EPC + F contract, it is paving the way for the contractor through the Federal Ministry of Finance to bring in foreign investment into this project. The federal government’s commitment is 30 percent counterpart funding, which the president is fulfilling.
“And now there is a foreign component of the project, that is, foreign financing that will come in, it’s going to fast-track the performance of this project, and I’m happy with the performance of Hitech, with the quality of work they are doing and the speed of work. If not for settlement of a very high fee, we would have been able to commission the entire first section within one year of the project, even though it is for 36 months.”
Praising the tenacity of the president in realising this lofty dream, he said: “It is a very wonderful thing to witness this and to be part of it. And we will continue to pray for the president; we will continue to support him, and we must continue to say that given the two tenures of the president, Nigerians are assured that the entire 750 kilometers will be fully achieved before the president leaves office at the end of his two tenures. And God, who started this, is going to get it completed.”
In a statement, while handing over the signed agreement to the Minister of Works, the Permanent Secretary who signed the agreement on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Works said that the agreement was signed in accordance with the law.