The cost of the National Library project jumped from N8.5 billion to N38.7 billion in 10 years. The project was awarded in 2006 to Messrs Reynolds Construction Company, RCC, at the sum of N8.590 billion to be completed in 22 months.
RCC was the preferred bidder and it got the contract four years after the bid opening in 2002 without revalidation of prices.
The company commenced work in April 2006 after obtaining an APG in sum of N1.718 billion from International Bank to secure the 20% payment, Daily Trust findings has revealed.
The project however was stalled due to the inability of the government to release enough monies for its completion leading to its being revised three times over the period.
It could not be completed as envisaged in February 2008 when the contract period expired. The contractor stopped work and demanded for an upward review of the contract sum, one of the building engineers in charge said.
The ministry of education, based on recommendation of the consultants, approved another redesign of the specialist work on the project in 2009 to incorporate new technology.
The Federal Ministry of Works was then involved in the project and together with the Ministry of Education; the NLN and the consultants reviewed the project and scaled it down from eight to five floors.
The contract sum of the reduced scope was reviewed upward to N17 billion from the original sum of N8.590 billion. The Bureau of Public Procurement issued a compliance certificate of ‘no objection’ on the review and the Federal Executive Council approved the revised sum.
The completion period for the revised project was made 21 months effective from July 2010. The project could not be completed again due to paucity of funds.
