Highway Development, Management Will Generate N160bn – FG

The Federal Government on Thursday engaged stakeholders from various sectors of the economy for the implementation of its Highway Development and Management Initiative.

It said the HDMI sought to bring multi-dimensional resources of skills, manpower, finance, technology and much more into the national highway governance within Nigeria’s 35,000 kilometres of federal highway.

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who disclosed this during a webinar, noted that over N160bn worth of investments would be attracted by the first phase of the initiative.

He said the initiative was aimed at bringing order, accountability and profitable entrepreneurship to the operation, management and maintenance of federal highways.

“What we have done now is to identify 10 highways representing about 2,225km and 6.4 per cent of our 35,000km federal highway network as a pilot first phase of the HDMI,” Fashola said.

On the targeted investments, the minister said, “Our research and studies suggest that on this journey, the first phase of 10 routes of 2,225km can elicit an investment of over N160bn.

“This is approximating to about N16bn per route and (would) unleash opportunities for prosperity.”

He said with this, the government anticipated about 46,694 direct jobs, spanning construction, installation, fabrication, security, and waste management, among others.

“The indirect job opportunities and spin-offs remain a matter of excitable and mouth-watering expectation,” Fashola said.

He noted that very soon, in collaboration with the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission, his ministry would announce the bidding process for the projects required on the roads.

The minister assured participants at the webinar that this would be done in a transparent manner that would allow the most effective bids to compete vigorously in a process that would deliver service to Nigerians.