At least N1.7 trillion is needed by the federal government to complete the 206 road projects, whose contracts have already been awarded across the country, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has disclosed.
The minister made the disclosure while addressing the Lagos African Capital Alliance’s 2016 Investor Day Dinner in Lagos at the weekend.
“With about 206 road contracts already awarded in the past and not completed, it does not make sense to start any new roads when the amount needed to complete them is about N1.7tr and the budget for the three ministries is N433bn as proposed by the executive”, Fashola was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Communication, Hakeem Bello.
According to the statement, Mr. Fashola explained the ministry’s priority was to complete as many roads whose contracts had been awarded, adding that investors were welcome to invest on new roads and alignments under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
He, however, noted that to be able to complete as many roads as possible, the ministry planned in the 2016 budget to depart from the old practice of giving every road the same amount of money irrespective of whether it is just starting or nearing completion.
“The Ministry of Works was to get N268bn, Power N99bn and Housing N66bn. So, instead of splitting N268bn over 206 roads and not finishing any, we plan to phase 206 roads over three years and ensure that we complete or substantially progress the completion of existing roads in each of the six geo-political zones”, he said.
