• To tackle highways failure
TO recoup its 'investments' in the road sector, the Federal Government may introduce user related charges particularly for new highways being constructed in different parts of the country, Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen has said.
He added that paucity of funds pushed government to explore the new option.
And faced with the huge incidences of road traffic fatalities, government officials are putting together an effective framework for addressing road failure phenomenon in Nigeria.
Onolememen disclosed this at a national conference on road pavement failure in Nigeria, organised by the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) and held in Abuja Tuesday.
He stressed that for Nigeria to be among the top 20 economies of the world in terms of development and growth by the year 2020, critical road infrastructures were essential.
"Our road infrastructure needs to grow from 200, 000 kilometres to about 300, 000 kilometres in the next five years. Most of the new alignments will serve as feeder roads to mine fields, agricultural centres industries, and other major theatres of economic activities around the country. The provision of these roads will no doubt be capital intensive. But due to the dearth of funds, government is considering intensifying its policy on public-private sector partnership (PPP) options in the construction of these roads.
"In addition, my ministry is seriously considering evolving effective and sustainable strategies for recouping any investment in the road sector through user related charges."
Also speaking at the conference, the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Ita Bassey Ewa, stressed that Nigerian roads were overstretched in relation to its designed capacity.
Noting that many roads undergo failures, he stressed how the situation is compounded when roads are not maintained or suffer delayed maintenance due to paucity of funds.
He added: "Incidentally, there are other related issues which include the nature of the soil and terrain on which the road is founded; the challenge of ensuring quality control in the maintenance of roads which has linked to the design and construction of roads, among others. The net effects of these are manifold."
The Guardian