The contracts awarded to Dekit Construction Limited and Darcon Nigeria Limited, for the construction of the National Institute of Petroleum Strategy and Policy, Kaduna, by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) was at the weekend terminated by the Fund.
The firms, which were awarded the contracts for the construction of road network in the institute and the director’s official residence respectively in the N10.4 billion project, had their contracts terminated for non-performance.
The two components handled by the firms have been abandoned despite the collection of mobilisation fees and other payments from PTDF.
Addressing journalists after a meeting with some of the contractors in Kaduna, Executive Secretary of the Fund, Muttaqha Darma, disclosed that over 50 per cent of the contractors would be issued warning letters and ordered back to site within the next two weeks or have their contracts also revoked.
According to him, “We are issuing warning letters to over 50 per cent of the contractors on site that if we don’t see them doing full-fledged work, we will determine their contracts by the end of four weeks.”
Speaking further he said, “We decided to terminate two contracts on the site, one is for the road construction. We have gone through serious embarrassment on the road construction, including getting invitation from the ICPC because the contractor sub-contracted the job and refused to pay them even after getting money from PTDF”, Darma explained.
He also explained that the firm handling the director’s residence abandoned site for over nine months without showing any cause, noting that PTDF was not owing the firm, even as he wondered why the contractor would leave site without informing the Fund.
The institute, which was originally owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is being upgraded by the federal government to provide training for all management cadre operating in the oil and gas industry.
The PTDF boss who noted that the development of the institution was one year behind schedule, however, handed a deadline of March 31, 2012, as completion date to the 56 contractors and consultants handling 42 components of the project, in preparation for its commissioning by May 2012, by President Goodluck Jonathan.
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