The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has revealed plans by the Federal Government to reintroduce tolling on the nation’s highways, as a means of raising funds for their maintenance.
Fashola stated this on Monday while interacting with members of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), who visited him in his office in Abuja, revealing that the tolling system would only be introduced on road that had been completed by the government.
A statement by the Director of Information in the ministry, Mohammed Ahmed, quoted the Minister as also saying that the government would spend N100billion to be raised from the issuance of the SUKUK bond, for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of 25 arterial roads.
He explained that about N16.7billion would be allocated for each geo-political zone across the country.
He gave some of the prioritised road projects as the dualisation of Ibadan-Ilorin road, Suleja-Minna road, Kano-Maiduguri road and Lokoja-Benin road, as well as the rehabilitation of the Enugu- Port-Harcourt Expressway and the construction of the Kaduna Eastern Bypass.
“The Federal Government is reconstructing and rehabilitating 25 arterial roads with an aggressive plan to spend about N16.7bn for each geopolitical zone across the country,” the statement read.
“The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, also stated that the ministry was in the process of re-introducing the tolling system on completed federal highways in order to sustain the maintenance of these roads.”