National Assembly Probes Calabar Channel Dredging Contracts

The National Assembly has concluded plans to investigate the way and manner the controversial multi-billion naira contract for the dredging of the channel leading to Calabar port was awarded.

Successive governments had over the years awarded contracts running into billions of naira to different companies to dredge the channel butno significant achievement has been recorded.

The contracts were for dredging the channel to ease the entry and exit of ocean going vessels to Calabar port which had been experiencing little or activity over the years.

So far, the awards of the contracts have not yielded the desired results as vessels calling in the nation’s seaports still shun Calabar port.

Already, the low level of vessel traffic in the port has crippled  activities as many business operators have either closed shop or relocated out of the port environment.

It was in a bid to ascertain why these multi-billion naira contracts had failed to yield the desired results that the lower chamber of the National Assembly said it would do everything possible to investigate  the dredging of the channel.

The move of the legislature was confirmed by two different committees in the House of Representatives.

The plan was sequel to the mandate the leadership of the House of Representatives gave to the two committees.

The House in a recent sitting mandated its Committee on Ports, Harbours and Waterways and Public Procurement to investigate the contract to dredge Calabar Port Channel by a company which it described as incompetent.

The investigation of the dredging contract is expected to take six weeks.
According to the House, the committees will also evaluate the work done so far by the contractor in the light of the total amount that had been paid to execute the contract.

The decision of the House followed  a motion moved by Hon. EffiongAsuquo.

The motion of Asuquo, who is from Cross River State was unanimously adopted by members through a voice vote.

Giving an insight into the motion, the legislator explained that the federal government had in 1996 awarded the contract for the dredging of the Calabar port channel for the sum of N3 billion.

Asuquo revealed that later in 2006 the contract was re-awarded for the sum of 56 million dollars.

According to the legislator, due to the non-completion of the dredging contract, the federal government awarded another contract in November 2014 for the sum of N20 billion for the completion of the project. With the contract signed by the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the concessionaire, Calabar Channel Management Limited (CCM), the port ought to be dredged to a depth of 9.8 metres.

Continuing, Asuquo said: “Although the depth of 9.8 metres has not been attained even though the Calabar channel management duly deployed its equipment to the water channel. NPA has already paid the full contract sum of N20 billion to the contractors who are no longer on site.

“The Calabar Port Channel has potentials to boost economic activities in the South-South, South-East and North-Central geopolitical zones of Nigeria and become oil and gas hub for West and Central Africa countries”.

The lawmaker expressed dismay that due to the non-completion of the dredging contracts for about two decades, the zones that it was designed to serve had continued to be denied the benefits.

He stated that the non-completion of the project was also putting great pleasure on Lagos ports as well as throwing up huge logistics challenges.

He added that the non-completion of the project also led to needless costs on cargoes meant for Calabar ports routed through the already congested Lagos ports.