The Managing Director and CEO of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Mr Uche Orji has disclosed that a total of $2.21million has been spent on consultancy for two phases of the Second Niger Bridge Project.
Orji said this while speaking with journalists in Lagos in order to dispel rumours about the embezzlement of funds meant for the construction of the bridge.
He said “To date, NSIA has spent a total of $2.21million on consultancy services on the two phases of the Project –$247,586 on the due diligence phase; and $1.96 million on the project development phase.
“These services have included work in the following areas: legal, financial, technical and engineering and environmental and social impact advisory, provided by various credible and well-recognised Nigerian and international professional services firms.
“The bridge, estimated to gulp $700 million by 2012 estimates, is billed for completion in 48 months.
“Whilst there is no standardised benchmark for transaction costs, the European Investment Bank (EIB) Economic and Financial Report No. 3 of 2005 indicates that on the average, the level of transaction cost for the procurement phase of PPP projects is over 10 per cent of the capital value of the relevant project in Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
“This EIB survey estimate does not include costs related to contract monitoring and renegotiation in the operational phase of the relevant projects.”
Uche added that the NSIA had yet to receive any additional funding from the initial $1 billion it received from inception.