By Mumini AbdulKareem
The Elite Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD) has accused the Federal Ministry of Environment and the contactor handling the Oja-Gbooro drainage project in Kwara State of collaboration to short-change the state.
The civil group popular with the hashtag “#follow Kwara money” raised the alarm in a statement on the project on Tuesday adding that is has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the matter.
In its petition to the anti-graft body, ENetSuD said it “insisted that the cost of Bill 3 (concrete work) available on the site was N18,312,416 instead of N61,896,640 stated by the ministry, and questioned how the contractor was certified by the Ministry for the payment of N85,766,298 despite the non-commensurate work.
Giving a technical appraisal of the drainage project, ENetSuD listed over seven point of concerns how the contractor whose name was withheld reportedly defrauded the state in contrast to the provision as stated in the Bill of Engineering and Measurement Evaluation (BEME).
Part of ENetSuD observations include that “45 m3 of weak concrete grade 10 for blinding was done instead of 100 m3 provided in the BEME (making a shortage of 55 m3 worth N1,320,000 that is yet to be done on site, 297 m3 of concrete grade 15 drainage was done instead of 940.82 m3 provided in the BEME (making a shortage of 643.82 m3 worth N26,020,629 that is yet to be done on site, 39 m3 of concrete grade 15 pedestrian bridge along the channel was not found on site making a shortage worth N1,576,224 and that 20 tons of high tensile steel reinforcement (10-16 mm) was used for the available work on site instead of 58 tons in the BEME making a shortage of 38 tons worth N9,120,000 that is yet to be used on site for the deficit drainage.
Others include “83 M of fabricated galvanized steel pipe (50 mm X 1.5 mm) of hand/guard rail was done on site instead of 109 M provided in the BEME making a shortage of 26 M worth N62,400 that is yet to be done on site, 168 m3 of stone pitching (2.0 m X 300 mm) with geotextile filter was not found on site making a shortage worth N806,400, 4 m3 of concrete grade 15 access slabs was done on site instead of 79 m3 provided in the BEME making a shortage of 75 m3 worth N3,031,200 that is yet to be done on site and 475 m2 of Rip-Rap was not found on site making a shortage worth N1,715,371”, it added.
