By ANDREW OJIEZEL
The Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs Ibim Semenitari, has disclosed that the commission owes about 8,000 contractors executing various projects for it.
Semenitari who made this known, while conducting a delegation of a US-based Centre for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) from the Washington DC, round a 233-bed mother and child specialist hospital in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Friday.
She, however, did not disclose the exact amount the commission was owing the affected contractors.
The Niger Delta Region Specialist Mother and Child Hospital is a joint project between the interventionist agency and the Rivers State government.
The cost of the project was reviewed up to N1.9 billion from its initial estimated contractual value of N791 million to accommodate some expansion in its scope.
The NDDC acting MD however assured that the contractors would be paid, but added that such would be done with the expectation that they would return to sites, demonstrate enough commitment and complete the projects on time.