The federal government announced that the portal for the commencement of the procurement process of the Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI) will soon be open.
The federal ministry of works and housing launched an e-portal for the commencement of the procurement of the twelve pilot federal highway roads under the ministry’s HMDI birthed last year.
This was disclosed in a press statement from the ministry.
Speaking on the importance of the e-portal, the Minister of Works and Housing Minister, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, said that the portal would encourage competitiveness and ensure that the process is transparent.
Fashola said, “Let me repeat that all our transactions will be done through this portal and we will not entertain any personal inquiries to me or to any of our staff who have correspondingly been mandated not to entertain such requests.”
He added that the e-portal would be made public next week Monday; he said, “The day is now upon us, the venue is fixed and I have the pleasure to announce that the HDMI portal will open on Monday the 29th March 2021.”
The minister stated that the portal would serve all activities related to the HDMI and that the Request for Qualification (RFQ) application for the Value Added Concession (VAC) would be advertised on the same day that the portal is launched.
Fashola expressed the hope that the process of procurement would uncover a flood of commercial possibilities on highways in the country.
READ ALSO: How Federal Mortgage Bank Wasted N17.35 Billion On Abandoned Housing Projects
“Please visit the portal and I wish you all a very interactive and rewarding experience,” he said.
He further stated that the government was working to improve the ease of doing business in the country and that infrastructure would propel the initiative.
More than 700 contracts are currently being implemented by the government, with more than 13,000 km of roads and bridges throughout the country under reconstruction.
Fashola said that the scope of the undertaking has led to an “increasing and unsatisfied demand for funding to finance these projects to completion and to maintain them.”
Adding to the words of the minister, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Babangida Hussaini, said that the initiative would involve players in the private sector to improve facilities and work on selected routes.
Hussaini also noted that the leveraging of private sector investment would also increase the potential of selected routes to generate revenue and ensure that highways in the country adhere to international best practices.
“This pilot project is expected to attract a lot of investment to the country, create jobs for our teeming youths and make travelling on our highways more desirable,” he said.
Assuring players of a level-playing ground, the Ag. Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Micheal Ohiani, urged all domestic and international players to join the bidding process.
