Reps begin probe of N72.34bn Eastern railway contract

From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

The House of Representatives has commenced a probe of the N72.34 billion contract for rehabilitation of the 1,443 kilometre Port Harcourt-Maiduguri  section of the Eastern Railway Line.

House ad-hoc committee probing the rail contract at the investigative hearing into the status of the project, which was awarded in 2011, yesterday, queried the award of a $3.2 billion fresh contract for the railway line by the Federal Government when the first contract still subsists.

Chairman of the panel, Abubakar Nalaraba, expressed concerns that the project designed to be completed within one year has lasted for over 10 years.

Nalaraba said allegations that the projects have been abandoned after huge sums have been paid to three different contractors in respect of the railway project.

“Only recently and more than 10 years after the award of the contract for the rehabilitation of the Eastern Railway Line, Mr. President performed a ceremony to flag off a re-award of the contract to reconstruct the same eastern railway line, this time for about $3.2 billion (approximately N1.3 trillion).

“This, no doubt, raises some concerns, especially where there are allegations of abandonment of the project by three contractors even after payments have been made.

“This is more so because the House observes that budgetary provisions have been made for this purpose and is, therefore, curious to ascertain the status of this developmental project as well as the amount of tax payers’ monies being devoted therein, including circumstances that led to the re-award of the same project 10 years later to another consortium.

“Whereas, there is evidence of huge sums of monies being appropriated and released, little is being heard or seen of this gigantic project even in the states where these projects span through,” the lawmakers said.

Director of Operations, Nigeria Railway Corporation,  Niyi Ali, told the panel that the Federal Executive Council resolved to add additional lines to the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, hence the fresh contract.

“In 2011, a decision was made to carry out rehabilitation on the entire Eastern Line. The Eastern Line was divided into three segments.

“The first segment from Port Harcourt to Makurdi was awarded to Eser Contracting Industry company incorporated for N19.63 billion…,” he said.