The Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Amal Pepple, disclosed this after the Council meeting which was presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan at the State House, Abuja.
Pepple said that the project, which was designed to immortalise the late Azikiwe and double as a tourist destination, would be completed in 13 months.
``The Federal Executive Council approved the award of contract for the completion of Zik’s Mausoleum, a Mausoleum in memory of our first President. It was given out for a sum of N1,496,531,483 with a completion of 13 months.
``This contract was originally under the Presidency but it was stalled and had to be cancelled three times, but in 2010 it was transferred to the Federal Ministry of Lands and Housing Development when it became a full-pledged ministry.
``We have N530 million in the 2012 budget with which we are going to start off the project and we have also put N1 billion in the budget for next year; and if that is given to us, we should be able to complete it within the time stipulated.
``It is a national monument; it is something we will want to complete before we celebrate our centenary in 2014.’’
The minister said PNL, the company that won the bidding, was among the five companies that showed interest in the job, adding that the project was approved last year but had to be shelved because of the bidding process.
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