‎Ekiti Opens Bid  For Flyover, New Oja Oba (King's Market)

By Lere Olayinka

In a rare display of transparency in governance, Ekiti State Government on Thursday publicly opened th‎e bids for the construction of a New Oja Oba and a flyover in Ado-Ekiti, the State Capital.

‎The event, according to the Director General, Bureau of Public

Procurement, Chief Segun Akinwumi, was a testimony to the transparent

manner the administration has been handling public finances and

projects.
Akinwumi, who also doubles as the Special Adviser on Due Process,

‎said the state government advertised twice in four newspapers(The

Sun, Tribune, Punch and The Guardian) seeking bids for the projects

and three firms put in bids for the market, while one did for the

flyover.
Those who tendered bids for the market were ‎Time Building and

Construction Company Limited which put in N3.66 billion, Tiangen

Nigeria Limited which put in N3.33 billion while Kaymon Construction

Nigeria Limited put forward a bid of N3.06 billion.

The state's Ministry of Works ‎estimated the project to cost N3.19 billion.

For the flyover, the only bidder, Kopek Construction Nigeria Limited

put in a bid of N5.81 billion while the ministry's estimate was

‎N5.85 billion.
Sp‎eaking on the occasion, the Commissioner for Works and

Transportation in Ekiti State, Mr Kayode Osho, described the projects

as landmarks and gave the assurance that they would not be abandoned.

"‎The projects are landmark and are in line with the efforts of the

administration to impact positively on the lives of the people of the

state.‎ Adequate steps have been taken to ensure they are not

abandoned.
Tender notice on airstrip was put on hold for the state government to

resolve the issues of enumeration and compensation of affected

farmers.‎
"All the bids will be passe‎d to consultants already recruited and

they will analyse the bids and subsequently advise the state executive

council.
The consultants will dig into the technical and other abilities of the

companies to handle the jobs.
They have 48 hours to do the analysis and after this, the state

executive council will act. The projects will start within the next

two to three weeks. We apologize for the delay in starting these

projects," he said.