KWSG holds open bid for 26 urban roads

At least 134 local contractors yesterday, participated in an open bid
held for the construction/rehabilitation of 26 urban roads recently
advertised by Kwara State Government, conforming to Governor
Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq’s insistence that contract awards would be made
only after a transparent process.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Works and Transport, Dr Yusuf
Garba Manjo, said Wednesday bids were the first phase of the exercise
because roads for consideration under the phase 2 are still being
compiled and are scheduled for execution in the first and second
quarters of 2020.
“The present administration under the leadership of Mallam Abdulrahman
Abdulrazaq is committed to ensuring that construction works are given
to competent contractors.
“In furtherance of this, the Ministry shall follow due process to
ensure qualified contractors are awarded the projects to ensure
quality service delivery to the people. We shall ensure strict
compliance with the Public Procurement Act.”
The Permanent Secretary added that the road
construction/rehabilitation is part of the urban renewal programme of
the new administration.
The formal bidding saw the ministry’s officials opening and reading
out the figures and other details of the bid, including the technical
and financial parts of the proposals, with Manjo saying successful
bidders would be communicated after the exhaustive processes have been
followed.
Some of the contractors who spoke with newsmen commended the state
government for the transparency in the bidding process which they said
was the first of such measure in years.
The 26 roads in the first phase, which had earlier been advertised in
the newspapers, include; Ipata Market Internal Road network; Emir’s
Road Patigi; College of Education Road linking Unilorin Mini campus;
town hall/station road, Erin Ile;  Market Junction-Emir’s Palace
Gwanara; Tsaragi-Market Batakpan road; Museum Road, Esie; Adeta
Primary School Road, Kuntu; Queen Elizabeth School Internal Road;
Tipper Garage Junction Amuyo-Adesoye College Offa; Shao Township Road;
Osi Township Road; Oro-Ago-Oyate Road; Sobi Specialist
Hospital—Gaa-Osiris-Medina Road Ilorin; Awolowo Road Tanke-Danialu
Primary School; Asa Dam Lower Road by Railway; and Gberia Township
Road Kaiama, among others.
.

… Kwara indigenous contractors allege foul play by Perm Sec

By Mike Adeyemi

The Kwara State Indigenous Contractors and Suppliers Association
(KICS) under the All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged foul play
over the bids for the construction and rehabilitation of 26 urban
roads held yesterday at the state Ministry of Works and Transport in
Ilorin.
The group said the entire process was marred with fraud adding that
there was nothing transparent about the process as alleged by the
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Garba Manjo.
Speaking yesterday with our reporter, the President of Kwara State
Indigenous Contractors and Suppliers, Alhaji Moshood Bolakale Aigoro
alleged that the Permanent Secretary and his team were selective in
the contract bidding and may be working towards the down fall of the
present administration under the leadership of Mallam Abdulrahman
Abdulrazaq.
” I wish to state that Kwara Indigenous Contractors and Suppliers in
the APC vehemently disagree with the contract bidding exercise
orchestrated by Manjo.
“From today’s exercise, it is apparent that all the Permanent
Secretaries are working at cross purposes with the government. The
Permanent Secretaries and directors of various ministries have their
own companies and those of their cronies that they award contracts to.
“And the main reason why we are bringing ourselves together is that we
are waiting for the Governor, the Deputy Governor, SSG, Speaker and
other party leaders to tell us our fate as stakeholders of this
government having voted massively for the party in the last general
elections,” Aigoro lamented.
He described leadership of various ministries as saboteurs even as he
urged the governor to monitor the Permanent Secretaries closely in
terms of award of contracts and other projects in the state.
“When it comes to bidding or tendering for contracts, we indigenous
contractors have the financial capability. We have prepared 10
profiles of our members with N580, 000 each but we have no trust in
Manjo because he will always end up giving such contracts to his
friends and cronies,” Aigoro added.
He however called for the intervention of the Governor, saying, “We
don’t trust the leadership of the ministries and we don’t want our
party to fail.”
Aigoro appreciated the Governor for his pronouncement that local
contractors will be patronised in the execution of projects.
“We however want the governor to ensure that such contracts patronage
is not channelled towards the wrong path but rather members of the APC
in the state.”