By Emman Ovuakporie

ABUJA—THE  House of Representatives, Tuesday, started an investigative hearing into interventions in the road sector through the Subsidy Re-investment Programme, SURE-P.

This followed a plethora of petitions from Nigerians alleging that these interventions have been marred by irregularities and lack of due process.

Chairman, House Committee on Anti-Corruption, National Ethics and Values, Hon. James Faleke revealed this after a meeting with the  management of Dantata and Sawoe, an indigenous construction firm.

The  company’s delegation led by the Managing Director, Mr Heidschuster Udo, was quizzed by the committee on the N28billion contract it procured from the Federal Ministry of Works for the construction of the Abuja/ Abaji dual carriage way.

Faleke said the committee was worried that a road project which was awarded at the cost of N11billion in 2006 rose astronomically to N28billion in 2012.

He said the difference of  N17billion was too high a variation, stressing that this was an indication that the nation may have been shortchanged and those who awarded the contract may not have taken value for money  into consideration.

Faleke said the construction firm had confessed that it did not seek any variation but got the contract awarded to it by the government, adding: “We have observed that it was when SURE-P came into operation that several federal road projects across the country witnessed an upward review in their contract sums. We are conducting this investigation to establish if there is value for money in these contracts or if it is just a waste of funds.”