*N53b saved from 26 major projects review
WoldStage Newsonline– Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu, said the development of dam infrastructure across the country has created about 20,440 direct and 16,000 indirect jobs.
The Minister who disclosed this at the 2nd Edition of the Nigeria Media Water week on Monday in Abuja, and the Lunch of his 5 years compendium on water resources development in Nigeria, from November 2015 to November 2020 said, the ministry has over 200 dams spread across the country, being utilized for irrigation, water supply, hydropower generation navigation improvement.
On the achievement recorded under the hydropower development initiatives, he said a total of 10 dam projects were completed to improve power generation, create employment and minimize flood incidence in the country.
“Additional Six dams are at different stages of development to further improve hydropower generation, which include: Gurara 30MW Hydropower plant concession completed; Kashimbila Dam (40MW Hydropower) concession in progress; Dadin Kowa Dam (40 MW) concessioned and awaiting commissioning;
Others are, Gurara II Multipurpose Dam (360MW Hydropower) Contract signed; Farin Ruwa Multipurpose dam (20MW Hydropower) contract awarded in June 2020 and Itisi Multipurpose Dam (40MW Hydropower) MoU with Kaduna State Government signed in May 2020.
The minister said during his assumption of office in 2015, a total of 166 uncompleted and abandoned projects were inherited, “We then deployed most of our resources towards completing and commissioning all the high and medium priority projects from 2016 – 2020. Projects that we have ascertained as non-viable have been dropped completely.
“Thus far, we have completed 30Nos. of the high and medium priority projects and commissioned about 10 of them. We hope to commission many more soon as movement restrictions associated with COVID – 19 pandemic abates.”
Engr. Adamu, however noted that the cost review of some various project, the sum of N53 billion was saved from the reviewing of 26 major projects.
He said, “After the technical audit, it became necessary to undertake costs review of some major projects in the Ministry to enable contractors continue with their implementation to completion. To ensure value for money, contract revision requests (RETC) were subjected to several layers of scrutiny, review and negotiation under full watch of the Office of the Honourable Minister and relevant departments.
“The stringent processes enabled us to achieve substantial reduction on the request for contract review on 26 Nos major projects thereby saving about N53 Billion on the costs of the Contracts, even before review by the Bureau for Public Procurement. This achievement is profoundly significant to us in the Ministry as it showcases prudent management of resources, and high levels of transparency and accountability.”
He however noted that “the 5 years compendium presentation of this 5-year compendium to the general public today, is to afford us the opportunity to primarily document institutional memory and provide a platform for the Nigerian public to access information on the activities of the Ministry of Water Resources in the last 5 years”.
