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N1.3TRILLION IS THE NEW ROAD CONSTRUCTION PORTFOLIO


The Minister of Works, Architect Mike Onolememen, has disclosed that the estimated funding portfolio for about 195 on-going road projects across the country is N1.397 trillion. The projects are spread across the six geo-political zones covering 6,628 kilometres. He said with an outstanding commitment of N850 billion, it is clear that the yearly budgetary allocations from the Federal Government are grossly insufficient in funding road projects in the country. The minister, who made the disclosure at an interactive session in Abuja at the weekend, said ongoing efforts are geared towards fostering alternative sources of funding for road development. He said: “The Federal Ministry of Works has a total of 195 ongoing projects amounting to a portfolio of N1.397 trillion. As at today, we have about 195 on-going projects in the road sector and there is no way we will be able to finish all that in the next two years. “So we have to prioritise and that is why we are able to make sense out of the chaotic condition of roads in our country. So, to some extent, we have achieved some of the things we set out to achieve, considering our portfolio spread around the six geo-political zones of this country.”
            
Giving a breakdown of the regional spread, the minister said: “In the North-West, the total road is about N255 billion. In the North Central, it is about N262 billion. “In the North East, it is about 332 billion. In the South-West, it is about N236 billion. In the South-East, it is about N150 billion and in the South-South it is about N159 billion.” He added: “We have to strategise by giving priority to the arterial roads that link city to city which are truly inter-state and those roads that provide access to economic centres like seaport, airport, industrial areas and major areas across the country.” He said the alternative sources of funding adopted by the ministry include borrowing from multilateral agencies, floating of road bonds, conventional public private partnership finance as well as viable gap funding.

On borrowing from multilateral agencies, the minister said the World Bank has made available $330 million in its first phase funding of the projects, noting the reforms he carried out in the ministry on assumption of duties has continued to yield positive results. On road maintenance, Onolomemen noted that the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) has been repositioned and equipped with “state of the art” mobile pothole patchers and its capacity enhanced for prompt intervention on federal roads. “A total of 1,980 kilometres of road corridors have so far been maintained by the agency. And with FERMA’s zero-pothole policy and its preventive maintenance policy, coupled with the road surveillance campaign, many more corridors will be maintained in the next couple of months.”

A breakdown of the road projects shows that that the North Central has 31 roads covering 1,054 kilometres with a budget of N262.3 billion; North East has 30 projects covering 1,461 kilometres with a budget of N332.9 billion while North West has 23 projects covering 1,028 kilometres with a budget of N255.5 billion. Also, South-South has 34 projects covering 876 kilometres with a budget of N159.4 billion; South East has 40 projects covering 978 kilometres with a budget of N149.6; while South West has 37 projects covering 1, 230 kilometres with a budget of N236.9 billion.

- THE NATION

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