The Federal Government is perfecting arrangements to move the headquarters of the Department Petroleum Resources (DPR) from Lagos to Abuja, and in line with the move has approved N1.4 billion for the design of the headquarters of the agency.
The approval was granted during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.
The meeting, which was also attended by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, and several ministers lasted for six hours.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, who briefed journalists on the approval after FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said that the contract was awarded to Messers Arteck Practice Limited to design a 12-floor building at a plot which had already been allocated by the FCT.
According to the Kachikwu, DPR is currently based in Lagos and operates as the regulatory and supervisory arm of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and is also instrumental in government’s income generation.
He said the design was to start the process of moving the agency to Abuja.
On whether the amount was not too much for design of a building, Kachikwu said that the contract sum was the lowest of the bids.
“The highest bid was about N3 billion; the total projected potential cost for the building when it is done is about N35 billion.
“So if you look at that as a percentage of the work, it is absolutely insignificant. In international terms, it is very justifiable, it is less than two per cent.
“The FCT did mention in our deliberation that because of the new zoning policies, the previous plan which was to build a car park of another five floors along with the 12 floors has to be changed a little bit because they are taking possession of additional green area that were assigned to them.
“So they will build a lot of parking institutes within the building. So, I think because of the amount of work to be done and in line with international practice, it is quite frankly very reasonable,” he said.
The minister said funding for the design would come out of DPR itself, and not out of federal budget.