Buhari Owing Road Contractors N765 Billion –Fashola

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said the federal government is owing contractors N765.01 billion for ongoing highway and bridge projects.

He said the sum of N110.5 billion was released to the highways (works sector) and utilised for payment of part of the outstanding certificates for executed works on roads and bridges in the 2022 budget.

Mr Fashola disclosed these on Tuesday while defending the budget of his ministry before the House of Representatives Committee on Works.

ALSO READ: As UPU Lauds His Interventions, Omo-Agege Says Power Rotation Remains Sacrosanct

The minister said as of “October, 2022, the ministry has a cumulative unpaid certificates in the sum of N765,017,139,752.92 for ongoing highway and bridge projects.”

Mr Fashola lamented the inability of the country to finance its obligations and the poor allocations to projects in the budget.

He stated that “there is the inadequacy of annual budget provisions where N100 million or N200 million was provided for roads costing twenty or more billion.”

Despite the huge liabilities, the federal government allocated N515.9 billion for the ministry of works and housing and its parastatals in the 2022 budget.

Mr Fashola said the ministry needs N1.2 trillion for the execution of highway projects, but only N198.9 billion has been allocated under the budget envelope in 2023 for the roads.

The minister disclosed that despite the dire financial situation “20 major highways projects have so far been completed in 2022 and are ready for commissioning. The total cost of the completed projects is in the sum of N444,322,123,808.61 and they cover a total length of 379.677km.”