Contractors handling the 614Km Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline project have so far been paid $1.1 billion, Group CEO of NNPC Limited, Mr. Mele Kyari has disclosed.
Mr. Kyari who led a team of officials to inspect the project at Akoko Community in Kogi State told newsmen that NNPC has the capacity to singlehandedly finance the project following the withdrawal of third party financial.
The AKK pipeline project has a total cost of $2.5 billion, down from the $2.8 billion initiatially approved by the Federal Executive Council in 2018.
Kyari explained that work was going on in at least 30 sites along the project route.
According to him, “Our contractor, our staff, who are doing everything possible to deliver this project, and we are most grateful to them, and we appreciate the great work that they are doing. And, of course.
“For the benefit of the Nigerian public, this is one of the most massive projects that we are on in the company. It is of immense proportion of value to our country and for the socio-economic growth of our country.
“We know that this is a must deliver project. This project has not stopped for one day and we continue to fund it, despite the fact that we do not have third party financing on this project. We have spent over $1.1 billion on this project from our cash flow”.
Kyari, who assured Nigerians that the project would be delivered on schedule, the NNPC boss noted that “We are a very different company today, we are a commercial company. We have intercompany laws in our company. Now, this company can fund this project. So we do not need any support on this project, we will deliver this project.
“As we speak now, we don’t owe a dollar to our contractors today. We paid all the invoices and there are over thirty sites that are active today in this project. And we are very, very hopeful and optimistic, we will deliver this project”, he stated.
While acknowledging that there are challenges facing the execution of the projects, he said the company with the support of the Federal Government was working to resolve them.
“Yes, there are challenges, security issues. We have lost men and we are so sorry to their families. We continue to share their grief but despite this, we’ve gotten massive support from our government security agencies. The Nigerian Army, Department of State Service and all of other government security agencies to make sure that our workers work safely and we are also able to continue this project uninterrupted. We are most grateful to this team.
“And we are sure Nigerians, that this project is different and this project will be delivered”, he added.
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