From Our Correspondent
……IMPI insists FG on track with Hitech
The Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI) says there are enough proof to support the Federal Government’s choice of HiTECH to construct the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway.
IMPI Chairman, Niyi Akinsoji, made this assertion in a statement, on Wednesday, in Abuja.
The group debunked former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s claim on the project.
Akinsiju stated that the think tank group said its study of the situation showed that all the claims by former Vice President Atiku
TheNewsZenith reports that Abubakar had sparked off the controversy targeted at discrediting the project.
Atiku had described the project as wasteful and a highway to fraud.
The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, had said contruction of the 700-kilometre Lagos-Calabar coastal road will be cost N15 trillion.
Umahi said one kilometre of the road would cost N4 billion.
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Defending the government action on the project, IMPI noted that Hi-tech has successfully handled the Bar Beach Shoreline protection.
It also has a history of constructing coastal highways with reinforced concrete outside of Nigeria.
It stated that after making discreet and open enquiries on the company’s credentials and contract portfolios, it concluded that the firm ”may pass as the only Nigerian company able to construct the coastal road”.
The policy group also insisted that a cost analysis of road projects similar to the Lagos-Calabar highway in some parts of the world showed that the costing of the project is appropriate.
Meanwhile, at the time the former Vice President created a controversy over the Lagos-Calabar highway, IMPI noted that a criminal court in Panama had opened the trial of the first batch of 27 individuals accused of money laundering related to the global “Panama Papers” revelations.
”International media reports indicate that investigations are ongoing on the next batch of individuals listed in the Panama Papers.
”These may include the two-time presidential candidate of the PDP. He is number 68 on the list of exposed former top government officials using shell companies,” IMPI stated.
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