Bi-Courtney Highway Services Limited on
Monday said the recent court injunction, which it secured setting aside a
new concession agreement granted to Motorway Assets Limited to finance
the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and manage the road
was not meant to stall the redevelopment of the road.
The firm, owned by Dr. Wale Babalakin, also declared as illegal the award of the reconstruction contracts to Julius Berger Plc and Reynolds Construction Company (Nigeria) Limited by the Federal Government without any public tender.
Even as it blamed the government of
former President Goodluck Jonathan for the delay the project had
suffered, Bi-Courtney said this was the basis for challenging the
government’s decision to terminate its contract in the first place.
It said in a statement that its latest
court action, which led to the injunction, was taken to correct an
alleged illegality by the Federal Government in signing a fresh
concession agreement with MAL when a subsisting one was still being
challenged in court.
The company stated, “The purported
concession granted to Motorways Assets Limited through the
Infrastructure Bank did not go through any due process. It was never
advertised in newspapers in Nigeria. The Infrastructure Concession
Regulatory Commission Act expressly provides that concessions in Nigeria
must be advertised in two national newspapers.
“Furthermore, the Infrastructure
Concession and Regulatory Commission must issue a no-objection approval
before the concession is then taken to the Federal Executive Council for
approval. None of these elementary steps was taken.
“Yet, as stated earlier, the Jonathan
government purported to have granted a concession to the company. In any
civilised part of the world, all the participants in this mockery would
have been seriously sanctioned if not appropriately prosecuted. It is
thus not surprising that the Federal High Court, in setting aside the
contraption called a concession, stated clearly that the whole exercise
violated all known principles of law and justice.”
It attributed the delay in executing its
concession contract to the inability to get the project design approved
on time by the Federal Ministry of Works, adding that the ICRC attested
to this in its report.
The firm, which noted that it would have
completed the road project in record time if it had received the kind
of support being given to the new contractors now, said it spent $300m
to maintain the road, while it was under its care for three years.
It added, “The ICRC revealed that out of
the three years and six months that Bi-Courtney had the concession,
direct delay by the Federal Government was two years and 10 months. The
rains accounted
for six months. In effect, in a period of three years and six months,
Bi-Courtney only had two months to work properly and it actually
commenced the work through Borini Prono on September 23, 2012.
“It is noteworthy that the ministry at
the highest level commented positively on the quality of work and the
speed of Bi-Courtney. This commendation was aired on TV on November 12,
2012 and November 13, 2012. A week later, the government terminated the
agreement and illegally awarded the contract to Julius Berger and RCC without a public tender.”
It also accused the Federal Government
and all those involved in the project of perpetrating an unlawful act,
saying they had consistently misled the public about the terms of the
concession agreement.
For instance, the firm stated, “Out of
the N167bn to be raised for the implementation of the project, the
Jonathan administration provided the sum of N50bn for the
concessionaire. This money was supported by a standing payment order of
about N2.5bn payable every month from the coffers of the Federal
Government.
“In addition, several guarantees were
made available to The Infrastructure Bank and its baby, Motorways Assets
Limited. This must be sharply contrasted with the situation of
Bi-Courtney. Bi-Courtney did not receive a kobo from the Federal
Government of Nigeria or any other government agency. It committed its
own resources to the project and expended over $300m.”
by Akinpelu Dada and Rasheed Bisiriyu
No comments:
Post a Comment