by Isi Esene

The Federal Government on Monday announced the cancellation of its concessionary agreement with the Bi-Courtney Consortium for the construction of the 125-kilometre Lagos–Ibadan Expressway.

The FG accused the management of the consortium led by businessman, Wale Babalakin of serially breaching the terms of the agreement signed by both parties on May 26, 2009 under the Late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua’s administration.

It subsequently announced that both Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. and RCC Nigeria Limited will now take over the construction job.

Spokesman of the Bi-Courtney Consortium, Dipo Kehinde, however, disagreed with the allegations leveled against his company by the Federal Government saying it was just a ploy to terminate the contract.

“They were just looking for excuses for us to fail,” Kehinde said.

The minister of works, Mike Onolememen, said in terminating the contract with Bi-Courtney, the Federal Government took into consideration the rules of disengagement as stated in the agreement.

Onolememen reportedly explained saying, “Due to the senseless carnage on this important expressway, which is part of Arterial Route A1, the Federal Government has also decided to embark on the Emergency Reconstruction of the expressway.

“Consequently, the Federal Ministry of Works has engaged the services of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and RCC Nigeria Limited to commence work immediately on the reconstruction of the expressway.

“While Julius Berger would handle Section 1: from Lagos to Shagamu interchange, RCC Nigeria Limited will be responsible for Section II: from Shagamu to Ibadan.

“The Federal Government wishes to assure (Nigerians) that while it will continue to uphold the sanctity of contracts entered into by the Federal Government, it will not shy away from implementing provisions of the contract agreement dealing with non-performance on the part of the contracting party.

“The legal implications of this termination have been carefully considered by both the Federal Ministry of Works and indeed the Federal Government. If you recall we have been on this issue for quite some time now and we have meticulously followed the concession agreement, the provision of relevant clauses of the agreement.

“We have complied fully with the provisions of this agreement. We have had cause even in the past to write the concessionaire to detail the breaches which it had committed in this agreement in this particular transaction and we have also followed the minimum and maximum number of days the contractor was expected to remedy the situation but failing which the Federal Government had no alternative but to take this course of action,” he added.

The minister explained the terms of the concession agreement saying Bi-Courtney was expected to source funds from the private sector to execute the project and thereafter collect toll on the road for the duration of 25 years.

“For your information, under this concession the construction period is supposed to last for four years and the four years will come to a close in about six months’ time and right now there is nothing on ground to suggest that the company is capable,” he said.