FG, PwC Provides Clarification for Selection of Bidders for Devt of Bitumen Blocks
Ugo Aliogo
Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers have laid out the competitive tender for the selection of bidders for the development of Nigeria’s Delineated Bitumen Blocks in a virtual clarification yesterday.
The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development had issued PwC a letter of award on the 11th of November, 2022, designating it as its Transaction Adviser/Program Manager to oversee the selection of bidders for the development of Nigeria’s defined bitumen blocks through a competitive tender procedure.
In opening remarks by the Director General of Mining Cadastre and the Chairman of Bitumen Committee, Engineer Obadiah Simon, disclosed that Nigeria is blessed with a lot of mineral resources which has remained untapped.
According to him, the Ministry of mines and steel development have recorded tremendous success after its establishment, but there was more to be done, adding that bitumen is one of the very important resources that have remained untapped.
In his presentation, the Director General of Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, Dr. Abdulrasaq Garbar provided an up to date history of bitumen exploration in Nigeria.
The Leader of the Mining Practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers Nigeria, Cyril Azobu, who spoke about the mandate of PwC on the bitumen programme stated that, the scope of the PwC mandate is to ensure uniqueness and peculiarity of the exploration, development, and extraction of Bitumen.
In his presentation, the Director, Capital Projects and Infrastructure, Mr. Suleiman Ibrahim, pointed out the criteria for the qualification of investors and a project overview as well.
According to him, “PwC has disclosed that a two- stage bidding process will be adopted; the request for qualification and the request for proposal stage. Also, the bidding process is to go on for seven months from May to November 2022. The local and international investors are expected to prepare a Request for Qualification Application and send it to bitumen.ngsa.gov.ng.”
