Govt needs N2tn to complete road projects – Fashola

The Federal Government will require about N2tn to complete no fewer than 226 ongoing road projects across the country.

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, made the disclosure in Lagos at a town hall meeting to brief the public on the activities of the government in the last 11 months.

He, however, said the total amount allocated to all the sectors under his ministry in the 2016 budget was less than N500bn, stressing that the government did not have enough resources to complete all the projects at present.

Fashola added that the focus of the government for now was to complete some of the projects and not to undertake new ones.

The News Agency of Nigeria quoted him as saying, “The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing proposed N423bn at the Federal Executive Council, and the information reaching us is that we are not going to get all that.

“Ongoing road projects alone awarded by the government before we came, about 266 roads awarded in the various states, the liability to complete them is about N2tn. So, when you look at N400bn, you know that that is not enough, but when you compare what this administration is going to do with the N400bn; with what the last administration did, you will know it is much progress.”

Fashola added, “What the last administration did was to budget N18bn for all the roads in the country, knowing the liability was in excess of N2tn.

“For the three sectors, that is works, housing and power, the total budget by the last administration was N24.5bn. So ,this administration decided to move away from that and that is why we have a figure that may not be enough, but substantial for the sectors.”

In the power sector, the minister said though there were many challenges, the government would do everything possible to fulfil its promise to revamp it.

He said the 5,000 megawatts the country was generating was inadequate and explained that the government would complete some ongoing power projects and take steps to boost generation.

On metering, Fashola said his ministry was engaging the distribution companies to ensure that they distribute metres to households.

He said it was through metering that consumers could be appropriately charged and that the power companies could block revenue leakages.

The minister said the government was designing a housing model for the country that would not only take care of the problem of affordability, but also take into consideration cultural suitability in every part of the nation.
Posted by Oscar Jonathan