Over 200 Roads Worth N2 Trillion Will Be Completed in 2016- Fashola

Minister of Power, Works and Housing Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has said over 200 roads worth N2 trillion awarded by the previous administration will be completed across the country this year.

 He said this at a budget session with the House of Representatives’ committees on Power, Works and Housing and FERMA, saying the government owes road contractors over N1 trillion.

The minister said 206 projects were in diverse stages of completion, while contractors, consultants for engineering design and supervision consultants, etc. have not been paid.

On the 2016 budget proposal, Fashola said of the N433 billion proposed for the three critical sectors, N208 billion is for roads, N99 billion for power and N66 billion for housing.

Fashola said the main challenge of the ministry is inadequate budgetary provision for projects to sustain annual cashflow requirement levels and there is a need to  diversify the sources of funding highway projects.”

He presented a three-year plan (2016-2018) for the completion of major economic roads linking different states and regions, totalling over 6,000 kilometres.

He said some of the priority roads included: Sokoto-Kantagora-Makera Road, Katsina-Kano-Maidugari road, Hadeja-Nguru-Gashua Road, Ilorin-Jebba-Makowa, Lagos-Ibadan road, Enugu-Portharcourt, Calabar-Adokpani-Ikot road and Ajibandele-Sagamu road.

On the delay in the completion of the Lagos-Ibadan Express road, the minister blamed the concession agreement between the Federal Government and Bi-Courtney Limited, which he described as “problematic”.