The Federal Executive Council (FEC) Wednesday approved N1.4 billion contract to a Nigerian firm for the design of a new head office for the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the weekly FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Mr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said government has decided to move the DPR head office building from Lagos to Abuja.
“FEC approved N1. 4 billion for the design of DPR Head office in Abuja. The contract was awarded to Messers Arteck Practice Limited to design a 12 floor building at a plot which has already been allocated to them by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). They are currently based in Lagos and are the regulatory and supervisory arm of the ministry of petroleum, and is instrumental in terms of income generation. It will enable DPR move to Abuja,” he said.
Asked if N1.4 billion is not too much for the design, the minister said the amount is justifiable good because the projected cost of the 12-floor building is N35 billion.
“The contract was awarded to DPR tenders board, their bid was the lowest, the highest bid was about N3 billion. The total projected potential cost for the building when it is done is about N35 billion. So if you look at that as a percentage of the work, it is absolutely insignificant, in international terms it is very very justifiable, it is less than two per cent,” he said.
He said the contract would be funded by DPR as part of government’s game plan to ensure that agencies are self-financing and are exited from federal budgeting in the nearest future.
Also speaking, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Mr Okechukwu Enelamah said the council also approved N1.556 billion for consultancy job for the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), which is part of the government social investment programme.
“We got an approval from the Federal Executive Council to award a contract to engage a Program Management Office Consultant and System Provider, for the GEEP at the cost of N1.556 billion. The contract which is a viable one, is for providing services to 4.6 million people,” he said.
