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FG Plans To Concession 10 Highways, Reintroduce Tollgates
The Federal Government yesterday unveiled a plan to concession 10 federal road networks across the country.
Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, stated this on Wednesday. He announced this while presenting details of the plan to the National Assembly Joint Committee on Works.
According to the Minister, the first phase of the proposed “Valued Added Concession” would cover 2,275km out of the 35,000km federal road networks.
He told the lawmakers that the project titled, “Highway Development and Management Initiative,” was anchored on a private sector engagement.
The minister said investors would carry out the development and management of the road networks.
The minister said the initiative was to attract sustainable investment and funding in the development of road infrastructure.
“The rationale behind private sector engagement is that it provides an avenue to mitigate paucity of funds which has hindered road development in the past,” he said.
Fashola said the first phase of the project would attract capital investment of N163.32bn at a cost of about N16bn per each of the 10 roads.
He said the initiative will attract capital investment of N163.23bn. He also said about 23,322 jobs would be created for the masses in the first phase.
The roads are Benin-Asaba, Abuja-Lokoja, Kaduna-Kano, Onitsha-Owerri-Aba, Shagamu-Benin, Abuja-Keffi-Akwanga, Kano-Maiduguri, Lokoja-Benin, Enugu-Port Harcourt, Ilorin-Jebba.
Fashola also said that the Value Added Concession through the construction of rest areas will reduce fatigue on the highways thereby causing a reduction in accidents as the routes will be better managed and maintained.
He said improvements on weighbridge stations would reduce the incidence of roads having to bear loads above their design weight. “This will improve the lifespan of the road pavement,” he added.
The lawmakers described the initiative as a laudable project but expressed concern over the capability of investors.
