[b] TOO MUCH OF BAD NEWS ALREADY, LET'S GET SOME GOOD NEWS

Worried by the deplorable condition of roads across the country and the attendant losses, the Federal Government has come up with an ambitious plan to bequeath better road infrastructure in the next two years, EMEKA EZEKIEL writes. The Federal Government will spend N700bn to finance various road construction and rehabilitation projects across the country between 2011 and 2013.


This is contained in a document titled, “Federal Government’s proposed expenditure on road rehabilitation, upgrade and expansion between 2011 and 2013,” a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent from the National Planning Commission in Abuja on Friday.


According to the document, the Federal Government will spend N461.8bn on the rehabilitation and expansion of Trunk ‘A’ roads across the country.


Specifically, N5.5bn will be spent on the dualisation of the Onitsha-Owerri road and the Onitsha Eastern Bypass; N2.6bn on the dualisation of the Section 1 of the Ibadan-Ilorin road; N6.97bn on the construction of the Kano Western Bypass and N565.3bn on routine maintenance and strengthening of road failures.


The document said, “The total capital outlay for the massive rehabilitation and expansion of all Trunk ‘A’ roads and the ongoing road construction is N461.8bn. To increase the percentage of roads in good condition from 20 per cent to 70 per cent within the plan period, the Federal Government will embark on the rehabilitation, upgrade and modernisation of 7,000km Federal Trunk ‘A’ roads.


“The network will be kept in a useable condition through the activities of FERMA (Federal Roads Maintenance Agency) across the various locations in the country, which will result in the maintenance of about 19,868km of the existing road network by 2013. The total capital outlay estimated for the completion of the projects is N700bn.”


Nigeria has a total road network of 193,200km, comprising 34,123km federal roads, 30,500km state roads and 129,577km local government roads.


Ironically, despite huge budgetary allocations for road construction and rehabilitation by the government, more than 70 per cent of the 34,123km federal roads across the country are currently in deplorable conditions.


For instance, between 2009 and 2010, about 61 projects valued at N214bn were awarded under the zonal intervention programme of the Ministry of Works. But most of the projects have not been completed.


The Minister of State for Works, Mr. Chris Ogiemwonyi, told our correspondent that the Federal Government had concluded plans to concession the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of some federal roads, including the Abuja-Lokoja Expressway, to the private sector under a Public-Private Partnership scheme.


This, he said, was part of efforts to ensure that they were put in good condition all the time.


The contract for the reconstruction of the Abuja-Lokoja road, along with the Port Harcourt-Eket and Kano-Maiduguri roads, into dual-carriage highways, was awarded by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in July 2006, under a Presidential initiative at a cost of N419bn.


The rehabilitation of the 186-km Abuja-Lokoja road, estimated to gulp about N40bn, is an integral part of the Abuja-Abaji-Benin highway linking the Federal Capital Territory with Kogi State as well as some major cities in the South-West, South-East and South-South geo-political regions.


For ease of completion, the contract for the rehabilitation of the road was divided into four and subsequently awarded to different construction companies.


However, the latest audit report from the Federal Road Safety Corps showed that 41 people died along the Abuja-Lokoja section of the highway between January and May 2010, owing to the deplorable condition of the road. The report also rated the road as the worst in terms of road accidents in Nigeria.


However, Ogiemwonyi disclosed that the Federal Government had already issued a notice of termination of contract to Bulletin Nigeria Limited, the contractor handling the rehabilitation of a portion of the road for alleged poor performance.


He also said that the Ministry of Works would partner the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission to select a reputable private company to handle the project.


He said, “One road that is also of strategic importance to this country today is the Abuja-Lokoja road. We have since realised that the road, which was awarded two years ago to four different contractors, is ongoing. However, in order to fast-track the construction of that road, we need extra funding, which will come from our partners.


“We believe that the Lokoja-Abuja road is good for Public-Private Partnership arrangement. That is one of the major roads we are thinking of. Once we are through with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, we should be able to advertise it.”


He added, “Already, we have done the design of the road. This is one of the roads where so many lives have been lost. So, the Lokoja-Abuja road is one of the roads we are going to concession.”


Asked when the process would be completed, Ogiemwonyi had said, “You know that government is a continuum. Our duty is to ensure that the right things are done. We will be glad if the road will be ready for Mr. President to inaugurate as part of his campaign. The road is vital.”


Speaking on the deplorable conditions of roads across the country, the Managing Director, FERMA, Mr. Kabiru Abdullahi, said the agency had spent about N26.5bn on road maintenance in the last two years.


Specifically, Abdullahi said that the agency had repaired about 4,500 kilometres of roads across the country and also constructed drainages covering about 1,168 kilometres.


He stressed that FERMA needed about N120bn annually to carry out road maintenance across the country, but lamented that inadequate funding had severely hampered its capacity to carry out its statutory mandate.

Source: http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20110502226831[/b]

Believe it when we see it. Wishing him the best anyway even though I doubt the sincerity when such huge funds are budgeted/disbursed for federal projects.

gists:

Believe it when we see it. Wishing him the best anyway even though I doubt the sincerity when such huge funds are budgeted/disbursed for federal projects.

Gbam

This reminds me of Tony Anenih spending over 400Billion on Naija road without anything to show for it!

Let's wait and see. I wish him all the best.