FEC Okays N28.4bn Augmentation For Wasa, FCT Infrastructure Development

*Bayelsa Gas Hubs Get N2.044b Infrastructure Contract
*As FEC Sanctions Partnership For Local Vaccine Production

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a N28.4 billion augmentation in the contract for engineering infrastructure development in the Wasa Affordable Housing District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The contract was initially awarded to Gilmor Nigeria Limited in 2014 at the cost of about N56.9 billion with the augmentation bringing the total cost to about N85.04 billion.

The Minister of the FCT, Mohammed Bello, disclosed this while briefing correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.

He explained: “The council approved the revised estimated total cost of the contract for the provision of engineering infrastructure to Wasa Affordable Housing District in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

“Council augmented the cost of the project to be completed in 42 months by N28,117,904,027.00 from the sum of N56,925,048,940.98 approved in 2014 to a new contract figure of N85,042,952,967.98
“The District has a total area of 367.11 hectares.’

Bello remarked that more than 35 per cent of the project has already been executed.

Speaking on the provision of facilities, the FCT Minister further explained: “All the facilities that are meant to be there in any typical district infrastructure. Of course, you clear the entire area for the road network, and then you do the road, or you do the bridges. And then you provide the sewer system, including telecommunication and water and electricity dots.

“In addition, in this particular district, we are going to have two waste treatment substations and then two electricity substations. So, it’s a whole comprehensive development of a district and drainage, and, of course, a number of bridges. We are talking of something that is probably the size of Maitama. It is quite large.”

FEC also approved N2.044 billion for the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in respect of a contract for the construction of internal roads and drainages to the Polaku Gas Hub in Bayelsa State.

Also speaking at the briefing, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who disclosed this said that the gas hub is targeted at encouraging the development of gas processing companies.

He stated: “Council today approved a contract to Messrs. Black Springs limited to construct internal roads and drainages in NCDMB gas hub located at Polaku in Bayelsa State. The gas hub is to encourage the development of companies that will process our gas and develop our gas and deepen the use of gas internally and be able to process gas for export and to also construct cylinders.

“Already there are companies that are in the gas hub – Shell Nigeria Gas is already located in the hub, Roll Gas is already located in the hub. So, these drainages and roads and the developments in that hub are expected to encourage more companies to come into that hub to be able to deepen and development of gas. This is in furtherance of commitments to the decade of gas as declared by Mr President, from 2021-2030.

“The contract sum for the drainages and the construction of the internal roads at the Polaku Gas Hub is N2.044 billion,” he said.

Sylva assured that the Old Port Harcourt Refinery will become operational by December this year even though he said the development of the compressed natural gas (CNG)is still in progress.

According to him, one of the two refineries, the old one with a 60,000 barrels-per-day capacity, will be functional by the end of 2022, just as works are also progressing on both the Warri and Kaduna refineries.

Sylva further said: “The rehabilitation of the refineries is ongoing. As we said earlier, the old refinery in Port Harcourt, which is about 60,000 barrels per day capacity, will be functional by December and, of course, we still have some time in the contracting time to conclude the rest of the Port Harcourt Refineries.

“Works in the Kaduna and Warri refineries are also progressing very well. We will soon be embarking on an inspection visit and some of you journalists will be able to go with us to ascertain for yourselves what the extent of work is.”

On the country’s CNG development programme, the Minister disclosed that progress is being made, adding that it is one of the steps that must be achieved before the removal of the petrol subsidy.

He added: “On the CNG development, it’s very much in progress. That is part of the promises we made, part of the things we want to put in place before the removal of subsidy. The subsidy has still not been removed because some of these conditions that were agreed upon have not been met and we’re definitely working assiduously to ensure that all the facilities are in place, the pumping stations and the conversion kits.

“I can assure you that work is going on very much in that regard. We may not be in a position to announce exactly what we are doing now or where we are, but I can assure you that work is very much ongoing.”

Also, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, disclosed that Nigeria will start the construction of an inoculation plant by end of the year, after signing a contract manufacturing agreement with Serum Institute of India for local production of the jabs, a government official said.

In his presentation at the briefing, he stated: “The approval has been given and then with this partnership now, they will now break the ground and start building right away,” Nigeria’s health minister Osagie Ehanire said on Wednesday in a briefing in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

“Local production of inoculations has become imperative for Nigeria as vaccine subsidies from the international community are expected to end within the next six years, which means that the country will have to come up with $300 million to buy its jabs, according to the minister.

“By 2028 the support we used to get from GAVI to subsidize our vaccines will expire. And by that time, we should be producing our own vaccine domestically,” Ehanire said.