*Sets Lagos-Ibadan expressway,
*Second Niger bridge as top priority
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has officially
unveiled his short term plans to address housing deficits, provide good roads and
urgently increase power generation in the country with extra 2, 000 megawatts.
Fashola said, during his maiden press briefing in Abuja that the Lagos-Ibadan
expressway which has been under construction and the second Niger Bridge are of
great importance to the current administration, thus would get urgent attention.
He said year 2002 was the last time the sum of N200 billion was budgeted for road
constructions in the country.
The Minister further disclosed that work would soon commence on all roads that link
the 36 States of the federation, adding that major roads which had been suspended
due to paucity of funds and are vital to boost social economic activities in the
country would be quickly revisited.
It was Fashola’s maiden briefing since his resumption to office.
He spoke on plans to partner with the private sector and fully privatise the power
sector in order for the country to witness genuine development like the
telecommunication.
Part of his plans is also to immediately restore the jobs of construction workers who
were laid off by local and international construction companies in the country.
His words: “The records that have been made available from previous budgets show
that the last time Nigeria budgeted over N200 Billion in a year’s budget for roads
was in 2002. It seems that as our income from oil prices increased over the last
decade, our spending on roads decreased.
“As far as status reports go, the federal government budgeted N18.132Billion in
2015 and the Ministry of Works got N13Billion for all roads and highways in 2015,
although it has contracts for 206 roads, covering over 6,000km with contract price of
over N2 Trillion.”
However, Fashola stated that government’s ability to achieve connectivity of Inter-
state roads would largely depend on capital spending in the 2016 budget.
He said it became imperative to pay contractors and get them back to work as soon
as possible.
“Our short term strategy will be to start with roads that have made some progress
and can be quickly completed to facilitate connectivity. We will prioritize within this
strategy by choosing first the roads that connect states together and from that
grouping start with those that bear the heaviest traffic.
“As at May 2015, many contractors have stopped work because of payment, and many
fathers and wives employed by them have been laid off as a result.
“Some of the numbers from only four companies that were sampled, suggest that at
least 5,150 workers have been laid as at March 11, 2015; and if we realize that there
are at least 200 contracts pending, on the basis of 1(one) company per contract,” he
said.
Analysing the unfortunate situation, Fashola explained that, “If each contractor has
only 100 employees at each of the 200 contract sites, it means at least that 20,000
people who lost their jobs can return to work if the right budget is put in place and
funded for contractors to get paid.
“The possibility to return those who have just lost their jobs back to work is the kind
of change that we expect to see by this short term strategy.”
“In order to make the roads safer, we intend to re-claim the full width and set back
of all Federal roads, representing 16% and about 36,000km of Nigeria’s road network
by immediately now asking all those who are infringing on our highways, whether by
parking, trading, or Attention of any inappropriate structure to immediately remove,
relocate or dismantle such things voluntarily. This will be the biggest contribution that
citizens can offer our country as proof that we all want things to change for the
better,” Fashola added.
Source: http://thenationonlineng.net/fashola-unveils-agenda-for-roads-power-and-
housing/
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