Leading construction company, Julius Berger Nigeria PLC has begun withdrawal of its services from some of its project sites in Rivers state following shortfalls in the periodical project cost payments by the state government which have since stopped coming.
According to a report in the NigerDeltaInsider newspaper which quoted an insider at Julius Berger Nigeria Plc as saying that the company has “reportedly withdrawn from several major project sites across Rivers State.” He linked the development to the failure of the state’s Sole Administrator to continue funding ongoing projects despite receiving regular federal allocations and substantial internally generated revenue (IGR).
The report further disclosed that many of the company’s workers have been placed on standby, with operations stalled across multiple locations pending further directives.
Another source who should know disclosed that for some time, the periodical monthly payment for the contracts fell due, but that efforts to collect payments have continued to fail as the key aides to the Sole Administrator would not make any useful commitment.
One other report confirmed the reduction of site workers by the construction company for the same reason. Let me tell you my findings, there is a particular project site on the ongoing Port Harcourt Ring Road project. Where they had 800 workers on site, only a few; less than 300 hundred people were seen working last week Thursday.
Some of the company’s project sites visited over the weekend further confirmed the foregoing development. At the Ring Road project site, only a handful of workers were seen compared to the hitherto nonstop activities while at the Emohua axis of the state where the Buguma-Degema road project had peaked, no work is going on there.
A worker who was a victim of the staff downsizing by the company, disclosed that, on this Emohua with all the landmark projects going on, we have already completed about 30% while we have completed over 60% of the work on the long Ring Road project. But now, we are told to return home to stand by until they get payment from the government.
He continued, we even hear that if no payment is made by the end of June, the company will demobilise from site. That means the entire Rivers state will become one huge chaotic site with abandoned projects all over; the result will be restiveness and crime as the projects helped we the indigenes with jobs and kept us gainfully busy.
In 2023, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and the Rivers State Government signed a N195 billion contract for the construction of the Port Harcourt Ring Road which will link no fewer than five Local Government Areas in the state.
During the contract-signing ceremony at the Executive Council Chambers of Government House in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, the State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, was full of commendation for the construction company saying that the fact that Julius Berger has its successful professional imprint on every landmark project in the state qualifies the company to get the fresh contract.
When he was flagging off the then Executive Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, awarded the 19.7 km Kalabari Road Project to Julius Berger last year, he did not mince words in revealing that his administration had paid 30 percent of this project cost, for you to understand how we feel and how we value the Kalabari people; and the contractor has assured us it will do a good job, and I believe that before the 15 months are over, life will be different here.
Issues of criminality along the bad section of the road will be a thing of the past, and other positive developments will also come into your kingdom, he added.
The development is causing many indigenes of areas of operation of the construction company to worry about what the future holds for them
As at press time, efforts to get the managemnent of Julius Berger for comments remain abortive as no officila in their Reghio