Minister inaugurates abandoned Katampe infrastructure project committee

Commissions Staff Buses As Palliative Measure
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has constituted an inter-ministerial committee to look into the N61b abandoned Katampe District engineering Infrastructure project with a charge to make recommendations within six weeks.

The body is also expected to establish the extent of interventions by relevant government agencies, with respect to the monitoring of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract, establish any shortcomings in the performance of the partnership contract in the course of the review and make appropriate recommendations on the way forward.

Bello, therefore, charged the committee to review the extent of compliance with the obligations and the processes of the PPP Contract Agreement by the FCTA/FCDA, the Developer, Lenders, the Independent Engineer, the PPP Consultant, ICRC and other government agencies with reference to the technical and financial performances.

The committee tagged: Inter-Ministerial Committee on Contract and Financial Audit of the PPP Project for the Development of Engineering Infrastructure for Katampe District, Abuja is chaired by a retired Permanent Secretary, Engr. Zanna Baba-Gana.

At the inauguration in Abuja, yesterday, the Minister expressed disappointment that the Public Private Partnership (PPP) project, which commenced on January 17, 2012 and scheduled to last 36 months, is just 16.4 percent complete as at January 2015.

The minister, however, assured that the project audit was not intended for witch-hunting, but rather a fact-finding exercise designed to assist the FCT Administration to diagnose the problems that have threatened the success of the PPP project.

Bello also commissioned 25 FCTA Staff buses to convey the ministry’s staff to and from the satellite towns of Suleja in Niger State and Maraba in Nassarawa State to the city centre. He said the move is a palliative measure to help cushion the effect of recession among staff.