The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has expressed disappointment with the state of government projects in Nigeria and called for a review of the Public Procurement Act.
Mr Fashola made the observation on Wednesday when he visited the site of the ongoing construction at the Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa road in Kwara State.
He noted that the slow pace of work was because the contractor handling the reconstruction of the road was given only 15 per cent mobilisation fee.
Fashola stressed the need to review the Public Procurement Act to enable government pay contractors handling big projects more than 15 per cent mobilisation fee.
A contract for the rehabilitation of the Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa road, which connects the northern part of Nigeria to the southern region, was awarded in 2013 but there is nothing to show for it.
Similarly, on his tour of projects in north central Nigeria, the Minister visited the Zungeru power project in Niger State.
The people of the community had stalled work at the plant for the past two years over compensation claim.
Mr Fashola assured them that the issue would be resolved as soon as the contractor is allowed to resume work at the plant.
In a meeting with the Niger State Governor, Abubakar Bello, the Minister made a case for the compensation and also urged the Governor to consider taking advantage of the water from the Zungeru Dam for irrigation purposes.
Conceived in 1982, proper construction work started on the site in 2012 and the Zungeru power plant is expected to deliver 700 megawatts of electricity when completed.
