At last work will commence on the construction of Second Niger Bridge during the second quarter of this year, Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen has said.
Onolememen said plans to perform the ground breaking ceremony of the bridge in Onitsha, Anambra State is already awaiting approval.
The minister stated this at a meeting yesterday with the Senate Committee on Works.
Onolememen told the Committee that Messrs Julius Berger-AIM Consortiums emerged the best contractor that applied to construct the bridge under Public-Private-Partnership
Onolememmen said: “Messrs Julius Berger – AIIM Consortiums’ bid emerged as the best and on the basis of this, a letter seeking President Goodluck Jonathan’s anticipatory approval was sent on January 11, 2013.
“This was followed by a request from the President’s office asking the Ministry to submit the outcome of an Outline Business Case (OBC) by the Transaction Advisor and issuance of “No Objection” from the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) upon which the approval will be granted.
“The OBC has been submitted to the ICRC in compliance with the provisions in the national policy on PPP and as soon as the ‘No Objection” is issued by the ICRC, the Ministry will re-seek the President’s anticipatory approval to enable the project proceed to the next phase of procurement.
“Early construction works will commence immediately on site once the concession has been awarded to the preferred bidder,” he said.
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Source: Nation
