TVC E, BUSINESS – The House of Representatives has faulted the bidding process for the $8.3bn Lagos-Kano railway contract.
It said that the Nigerian Railway Corporation and the Bureau of Public Procurement must explain why it turned out that only Chinese firms bid and won the contract.
Its subsidiary, the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, also turned out to be the second bidder.
The committee, which is chaired by a lawmaker from Edo State, Mr. Johnson Agbonayinma, queried the decision of the NRC to award the contract to the firms.
It also summoned the BPP to explain how it approved the contract for a parent firm and its subsidiary.
At its sitting in Abuja on Friday, the committee held the view that by their actions, the NRC and the BPP had shut out other competent companies from bidding for the contract.
Agbonayinma asked if it was possible in China for a parent company and its subsidiary to both bid and win for same major public contracts.
The representatives of the firms had claimed that they were registered in Nigeria with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
But, the committee observed that on the form containing the list of the board of directors, none of the directors of CRCC appended their signatures.
The committee said allegations that “substandard” equipment was imported for the rail projects compelled the House to conduct the investigation.
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