The Federal Government may any time from now cede all federal roads within five to 10-kilometre radius from the centre of state capitals to the 36 states of the federation if it accepts a proposal to that effect by the National Council on Works.
Such ceded roads will form part of the respective states’ road network and will be controlled and maintained by the states.
However, bridges across major rivers and interchanges within the five to 10km radius will be exempted and will be maintained by the Federal Government.
The council, which convened in Lagos for its 19th meeting from April 15 to 29, further approved that where a road was ceded to a state, the Federal Government could construct a by-pass.
In a communiqué released on Friday, the council also approved that where construction of a bye-pass was not feasible, the Federal Government would reimburse the state government for the cost of improvement carried out on the roads in compliance with the Federal Government guidelines for reimbursement.
The NCW meeting was presided over by the Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, with the Minister of State for Works, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda; state commissioners, permanent secretaries, directors, heads of special agencies, chairmen of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Works and other stakeholders in attendance.
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who was represented by his deputy, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, declared the weeklong meeting opened.
Council approved the use of bitumen emulsion in all road projects in line with the Kyoto Protocol that discourages emission of gases that increase global warming, as well as abolished the use of kerosene on any road project in Nigeria, effective 1st January, 2013.
A significant decision taken at the meeting was the approval of the use of bitumen emulsion in all road projects in line with the Kyoto Protocol that discourages emission of gases that increase global warming, as well as the abolishment of the use of kerosene on any road project in Nigeria January 1, 2013.
The council noted the appreciable progress made so far on the Road Fund and Federal Road Authority bills, and urged the Federal Ministry of Works to expedite action on the creation of the two organs in line with ongoing reforms so as to attract private investors in the road sector in view of the paucity of funds available to the government for infrastructural development in the country.
It equally noted the upgrade of the Public-Private Partnership and Road Sector Development Team Units into full-fledged departments in the Federal Ministry of Works to meet the contemporary challenges in the road sector, including the attraction of multi-lateral, bilateral and private sector financing, and to have effective frameworks to concession economically viable roads in the country.
The NCW urged states to compliment Federal Government’s efforts in the development of road infrastructure by also setting up PPP units/department in their respective states.
According to the communiqué, participants accepted a recommendation that Federal Government should to put in place a National Tolling Policy to encourage private investors and grant them sovereign guaranty where project costs are high.
The NCW called on the Federal Government through its Works ministry and Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission to ensure strict adherence to international standard practice in all engineering design and procurement procedures, as well as act proactively to make PPP initiatives a success in Nigeria.
It commended the Federal Government’s plan to finance six critical road projects in the six geopolitical zones with the proceeds accruable from the partial deregulation of the oil sector through the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme.
The projects are the dual carriageway Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja Road; construction of Oju-Loko-Oweto Bridge linking Nassarawa and Benue states; dual carriageway Kano-Maiduguri Road; construction of the 2nd Niger Bridge in Delta/Anambra states; rehabilitation of the Shagamu-Ore-Benin dual carriageway; and rehabilitation of the Onitsha-Enugu-Port Harcourt dual carriageway.
The communiqué read in part, “Council noted Federal Government’s plan to reimburse state governments for interventions on federal roads and efforts of the Federal Ministry of Works at ascertaining the claims put forward by some state governments for reimbursements and look forward to concluding the matter as quickly as possible.
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