The Federal Government has revoked the contract for the construction of the Ekim–Odukpani section of the Calabar-Itu Highway over what it described as gross underperformance by the contractor, Raycon Construction Company.
The government said the contractor failed to meet the agreed execution benchmarks despite repeated warnings from the ministry.
Minister of Works, David Umahi, announced the termination yesterday during an inspection tour of the project site.
Umahi disclosed that a stop-work order would be issued immediately, while a joint assessment team would be deployed to evaluate the level of work done before re-awarding the contract.
“This job was awarded as an intervention contract; it was taken over from Julius Berger because of the unreasonable price they offered.
“We are disappointed at the poor performance of the contractor. The company has shown an obvious lack of capacity to perform. This job is beyond their capability.”-Umahi said.
He added that the ministry would engage a competent firm with the technical capacity to deliver the road project to standard.
The minister restated the government’s resolve to ensure that all critical national infrastructure projects are executed in line with contractual obligations and engineering specifications.
The Calabar–Itu Highway, which forms part of the ambitious Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway corridor, has suffered prolonged delays with previous warnings issued to contractors, including SEMATECH and RCC, over slow progress and poor delivery.
