Even as frequent shift in delivery date for the ongoing rail line project worries Nigerians, the National Executive Director, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Nigeria, Mr. Paul Ndibe has said that the federal government appeared not to be ready to take delivery of the project even if it is completed today.
Ndibe who stated this in a chat with our correspondent in Lagos on Wednesday while expressing worry over the frequent shift in the delivery date for the project noted that there was a problem which made the delivery date unattainable.
The National Executive Director who recalled that this should be about the third or fourth time the hand over date was being shifted however explained that the development may not be unconnected with the difficulties around the built up areas in Lagos even as he added that “that goes to what I said earlier, if the entire project has been sub divided into modules, maybe the construction company that is responsible would have been able to live up to expectation.”
“But because it is one company that is why we are experiencing this, it appears there is no competition, they would formulate reasons and give you and because you cannot compare the performance of the other, so, you tend to accept their own reason. But government should be firm in enforcing that because all these changes naturally would involve some level of variations either declared or not declared because inflationary pressure will set in, price fluctuation will set in and then prices of things will set in and on account of that, you cannot say that a project that will keep a contractor for 36 months at site will stretch to 48 months and you don’t pay the difference even for workers, I don’t think so.
“So, I am looking more on the effect of the revision; that is the variation that will result on account of variations much more than the change itself. Having said that, I would expect both the government and the Chinese to be more open because recently, the railway had to shut down for about two months plus in order to enable the Chinese to reasonably move faster on their project, I don’t see that happening. I have not seen major changes at the level crossing within Lagos main city and these are the areas we really show some concerns. So, if level crossings have not been built in such a way that it can accommodate this level of traffic, then there is a problem.
“I am looking at also whether government is even ready to accept the project. Assuming it is delivered today, is government ready to run it? So, on the part of the government, government appears not to be ready. Why I am saying so is that the rolling stocks to go on those tracks, they are not on ground. So, if they on ground, there will be pressure on the Chinese, incidentally, it is the Chinese that will deliver those rolling stocks. Assuming you have placed order and they are delaying the shipment date; of course there is nothing you can do until you have them. But if the order is from a different company, it might not necessarily be influenced by the Chinese by delaying your shipment date”, he added.
While positing that the federal government had put all its eggs in one basket hence was at the whims and caprices of the Chinese, however advised the government to take it easy and appeal to the Chinese as it made the mistake originally arguing that even if the Chinese were the ones funding the project, government should have some level of control.
According to him, “As it is, it doesn’t seem to me that government has a high degree of control, just like I have said, they are doing the construction; it is one company, so there is no way for you to evaluate their level of performance. Secondly, it is the same Chinese that is supplying the rolling stock and they borrowed us the money to execute the project.
“Assuming they are the ones to send you the rolling stocks, what if you have ordered and they promised to ship them and they did not ship, what will you do? But if you have ordered from different country that has nothing to do with the construction, they will ship as you have ordered except government is saying that it has not ordered and if government itself has not ordered, it means government itself is not ready to take over the project.
“So, I think the blame goes to the Chinese as well as the government. The information in the public domain is to give us hope whereas at the back of their minds, they know when the project can be delivered. So, it is either that they are not telling the whole truth or there are some fundamental problems that they have not resolved.”
Photo: CILT National Executive Director, Mr. Paul Ndibe.
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