Coming after the plan to concession ten of the Federal Highways, the Federal Government said that it will soon announce the bidding process for firms interested in the management of the highways.
Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola, making the disclosure in Abuja during a webinar for stakeholders consultation on highway development management initiative, assured the process will be conducted in a transparent manner “that allows the most effective bids to compete vigorously in a process that delivers service to Nigerians”.
According to him: “This is the way to go now. Start preparing, so that you will be ready to compete when the process opens. We will not countenance any bid or proposal sent to us that does not conform with the rules prescribed by ICRC.
“Since the consultation meeting with the National Assembly last week which was widely reported in the news, I have received several inquiries which is positive. I have also started receiving written proposals in the office, which is not the way to go.
“The way to go is for interested persons to form their consortium of construction/road maintenance companies, financiers, toll operators, rest house operators, advertising companies, lane marking experts, refuse managers and other partners and begin to tour, visit or inspect the route that interest them”.
The Minister, speaking on the benefits of the initiative, said: “In a nutshell, what the HDMI seeks to achieve is to bring multi-dimensional resources of skills, manpower, finance, technology and much more into the National Highway governance within Nigeria’s 35,000 km of federal highway.
“Our research and studies suggest that on this journey, the first phase of 10 routes of 2,225 km can elicit an investment of over N160 billion, approximating to about N16bn per route and unleash opportunities for prosperity.
“With this, we anticipate about 46,694 direct jobs spanning construction, Installation, fabrication, security, and waste management to mention a few.
“The indirect job opportunities and spin-offs remain a matter of excitable and mouth-watering expectation.
“What we have done now is to identify 10 (TEN) highways representing about 2,225 km and 6.4% of our 35,000km Federal Highway Network as a pilot first phase of the HDMI.
“On each road, we see opportunities for: Erection of gantries and directional signage (all of which our ministry has designed, standardized and costed),Toll plazas (already designed and standardized); Weighbridges partly constructed, needing completion and a warehouse to operate it; Street lighting and advertising opportunities.
“Rest areas, sites already identified, concept designs developed with facilities for catering, lodging, fueling, car repairs, spare parts sales opportunities; Road repairs, maintenance, vegetation clearing and labour opportunities; Towing vehicle operation for recovery of broken-down vehicles; Lane marking with thermoplastic paints; Waste management; Right of way management for telecommunication assets and ambulance services with first Responders during emergencies.
“These are some of the possibilities we foresee as we intend to optimize the operations of what currently exists.
“We are currently also strengthening our internal processes to ensure that every highway is identifiable with one officer of our ministry under the Know Your Road and Own Your Networks where the name of the officer will be published on our COHIMS software, which will be the updated real time database for the entire national road network”.
