Members of a House of Representatives Committee have expressed concerns over the poor implementation of projects in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The committee on FCT, which paid oversight visits to some projects sites in FCT at the weekend, observed that some projects have taken too long to execute.
The lawmakers linked the poor projects execution to poor budgetary releases for ongoing projects ýin the territory, which they said was the bane of infrastructural development in FCT.
The acting chairman of the committee, Sergius Ogun (PDP, Edo), who led members of the committee to the oversight visits, said lack of funds releases brought about slow pace in the projects execution.
He said it was disturbing that a contract awarded between 2010 and 2014 with a lifespan of three years recorded only about 29 per cent completion.
“From the look of things here, there’s little the contractors can do with regards to the pace of work. We thought the delay was from them, but having listened to the FCTA officials, it is clear that poor releases are the reasons why these projects have moved at snail speed,” he said.
He added that if out of a contract worth N16 billion only about N4.5bn has been released and disbursed, “then there’s little the contractors can do to speed up things, because they need the money to work.”
Speaking, at the first ring road of the over 9 kilometre highway at the Southern Parkway, the Director of Engineering Services at the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Shehu Hadi Ahmadý, said there was an outstanding of about N9bn for the project.
