Page 14 - DMEA Week 36

DMEA TRANSPORT DMEA

NNPC denies graft at

AKK gas pipe

NIGERIA NIGERIAN National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) reasonable, NNPC said, noting that the project
has denied that the budget of its Ajaokuta-Ka- had undergone “a transparent and open compet-
The claims of a duna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline was inflated by itive tender process” where the most competitive
$1.53bn cost inflation $1.53bn. bids were chosen.
are “false, baseless and The national oil company (NOC) was “Approval of all relevant authorities was
unfounded,” NNPC has responding to an article by Nigerian daily obtained after an intense scrutiny by the vari-
said. Point Blank News on September 7, which said ous agencies,” NNPC said. “This is a deliberate
the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) had attempt to mislead the Nigerian public with
uncovered evidence of corruption. NNPC drove baseless information.”
up pipe costs for the project from $513 to $3,000 The BBP’s director, Alhaji Maman Ahmadu,
per metre, it said. was quoted in the press as saying that NNPC
Point Blank said it had a copy of a report had followed due process in procuring pipes for
by BPP and published photographs of several AKK.
pages, although no heading or page numbers The 614-km pipeline is due to deliver up
were visible. It quoted the bureau as saying that to 56mn cubic metres per day of gas to power
NNPC’s pipe contract was “a hastily compiled, plants in the states of Abuja, Kaduna and Kano.
tardy and unprofessional submission, which These stations are being built as part of Nigeria’s
is bereft of any significant engineering inputs, programme for expanding the share of gas in its
technical information and without considera- electricity mix.
tion for the unit rates or the bill of quantities as Construction had been scheduled to begin in
is usually expected in the review of such engi- the first half of 2020, but did not start until early
neering projects.” July because of coronavirus (COVID-19) related
“We are also reliably informed that as at pres- disruptions. The engineering, procurement and
ent date, there is still no detailed design, neither construction (EPC) contractors picked for the
are there technical specifications for the project,” pipeline were Nigeria’s Oilserv, Oando and Bren-
Point Blank quoted the BPP as saying. tex Petroleum Services, and China’s First High-
These allegations are “false, baseless and way Engineering and China Petroleum Pipeline.
unfounded,” NNPC said in a statement, adding China Export and Credit Insurance Corpo-
it was considering legal action. The BPP itself has ration (Sinosure) has pledged to underwrite up
denied the discovery of graft at the project. to 85% of the pipeline’s cost, projected by NNPC
The bureau judged the pipe costs to be to be $2.6bn. ™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 36 10•September•2020