* Tolls not yet approved by FEC
The Federal Government has said that it will not embark on fresh
road projects until all awarded projects are completed despite
allotting the highest percentage of the 2020 budget to the Works
Ministry.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Raji Babatunde Fashola, who
gave the hint on the NTA Weekend File, said that the Federal
Government has to prioritise and commit its resources to completing
critical roads nearing completion across the country instead of
embarking on new ones as a result of “constrained fiscal
environment”.
According to him, there are 78 of such critical roads and
bridges that the government wants to concentrate resources on and
finish before contemplating new projects.
The project, according to him, include the Loko-Ogbeto Bridge,
Lagos- Ibadan Expressway, Kaduna-Abuja-Zaria highway, the
Suleja-Minna highway and the roads that lead to the sea Ports,
which he said drive the economy.
Fashola however said new road projects can only be embarked upon
when there are compelling needs to do so.
He said: “Now in terms of the budget size, how much is proposed
N261 billion? It will not be enough to discharge all our
obligations.
“Like in any home you want to buy books, you want to buy
clothing for your children, you want to pay rent, you can never
have enough money so you have to prioritize.
“So one of the things we have recommended is to first slow down,
if possible stop new projects and commit our limited resources to
completing projects that are nearing completion.
“No nation ever has enough money anyway, so those are the
priorities but we also have outstanding payments and we have made
this known to the President and his commitment to do his best
within the constrained fiscal space to support the infrastructure
objective, not only of my Ministry but transportation to aviation
are so critical because these are the things that will grow the
economy, let us focus on the high priorities of the economic
objectives of this country.”
He also said the proposed re-introduction of toll gates on
federal government has not been approved yet by the Federal
Executive Council(FEC).
Fashola explained: “The existing law allows government to toll
and people have formed different impressions about it but let me be
very clear, tolling is part of our existing law, it will happen, it
will happen on completed sections of roads not on uncompleted
sections of roads.
“There are still a lot of work to be done and we trying to
ensure that tolling administration is more efficient to overcome
the problems that characterised the previous regime and some of the
reasons why it was reportedly cancelled.
“The last thing to say about tolling is that contrary to the
reports in the media that this was part of government policy to
raise revenue along with VAT, they are not connected at all.
“We didn’t even discuss it in Council, talk less of discussing
it as a revenue raising strategy.
“But what people must understand is that tolls also create
employment for people who manage the tolls and we hope that some of
the proceeds if substantial can be used to maintain the roads and
prolong their design life which is what Nigerians have asked
for”.
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