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Nigerian Roads Are Constructed To Meet Global Standards – Says Fashola
The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, on Tuesday, said that Nigerian roads are constructed to meet global standards. Mr Fashola made the claim in Abuja while speaking on the achievements of the Buhari administration in the transport sector.
In a statement he said. “I think we don’t have our standards. Roads are constructed to a universal global standard and those standards are not made by Nigeria, they are uniform standards. He further added. “You can have a minimum and a maximum, in many cases we have reached some maximum because of the quality of finishing they have applied,’’.
The minister said that the ministry uses polymer modified bitumen on the Lagos-Ibadan and Enugu-Port Harcourt portions. This is preferable to the 60/70 bitumen because it is stronger and ensures a high standard. Mr Fashola spoke on the percentage of the road done based on the Federal Government budget. “It depends on how you want to report, if you want to report cash side of government, it will be about 75 per cent because we have received the only third-quarter release and that is 75 per cent of 100.
In addition, the minister said that SUKUK bond projects had been very helpful in road construction in the country. He based this in terms of the money required to finish construction and bringing investment into the road sector. Mr Fashola said the ministry currently has 44 roads under SUKUK, spread across the six geopolitical zones of the country. The Minister elaborated more on SUKUK. “SUKUK is like some form of public-private partnership and investment to supplement the government budget because the budget is not enough. “So, we limit it to specific roads and most roads that are benefiting from the SUKUK are those roads that we normally have problems with,’’ he explained.
The minister listed such roads to include; Lagos- Otta, Benin- Okene, Lokoja- Auchi- Ekpoma, Calabar – Itu, Adamawa and Gombe, and Aba- Port Harcourt.
