Minister of Works, Arc Mike Onolememen has said that in order to streamline the sector, the Federal Highway, as well as Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) Acts should be reviewed.
He made this disclosure when delegates from the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) paid him a courtesy call in the ministry yesterday.
He said that the creation of National Road Fund (NRF), National Road Board (NRB) and Federal Road Authority would necessarily lead to the review of the Federal Highway and FERMA Acts if the road sector reform bill presently being reviewed by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) will see the light of day.
Onolememen reiterated that the road sector reform was consistent with the transformation agenda of the current administration, and the president had the political will to actualise this through the Ministry of Works.
President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Engr. Mustafa Balarabe Shehu commended Onolememen on some of the programmes and initiatives on the road reform sector that have culminated into laudable achievements, and promised a continuous support to ensure the passage of the road sector reform bill.
Balarabe, however, pleaded with the minister to review the ongoing policy to withhold the payment of consultants of federal government projects once the project is stalled, aware that the progress of projects depends on the cash flow of the client and not the consultants.
While responding to the issue of remuneration for consultants, Onolememen said, ‘’ The matter was discussed in the Federal Executive Council meeting and we concluded that we are not going to pay engineers for idle time or downtime; we are even saying that we don’t want to create that kind of downtime in our project anymore.’’
He blamed the high cost of projects in Nigeria, particularly on road infrastructure, not only on rates of the projects but issues such as consultant remuneration, which also add to the final cost of projects that the federal government is determined to bring down.