Federal Government has said it is considering the concession of 10 highways to generate investments and provide jobs.
The Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, stated this on Wednesday while presenting details of the plan to the National Assembly Joint Committee on Works.
He told the lawmakers that the project titled, “Highway Development and Management Initiative,” was anchored on a private sector engagement.
NAN reports that the meeting was organised to deliberate on the public-private partnership on road and infrastructure with the ministry of works and housing and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).
The minister said investors would carry out the development and management of the road networks.
He stated that the rationale behind the private sector engagement is to provide an avenue to mitigate paucity of funds.
Fashola expressed that the first phase of the project would attract a capital investment of N163.32bn at a cost of about N16bn per each of the 10 roads.
He also said about 23,322 jobs would be created 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 noted that the investors are expected to provide streetlights, toll plazas, rest areas, and weighbridge stations.
The minister said the highway development and management initiative (HDMI) was hinged on private sector engagement, which was broken down into two categories, including value-added concession (VAC) and the unbundled assets approval (UAA).
Fashola stressed that what the ministry sought to do is to bring more diverse capacities to managing road infrastructure.
He said;
The current administration is already involved in those areas: the tax credits, SUKUK and we are looking at many other options.
Meanwhile, the Lagos-Pen Cinema axis in Agege had been closed to accommodate construction work on the Fly-Over Bridge in the area.
The Commissioner for Transportation in Lagos, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, said the closure is effective to allow contractors to launch beams across Iju Road without any interruptions.
He said the bridge would be closed from 11am on Wednesday, June 17 to Thursday, June 25, 2020.
