Nigeria Needs N600bn To Build 14,000km Of Road Anually –Minister

Nigeria needs N600 billion to build 14,000km of roads annually to meet the Vision 20:2020 goals, the Minister of Works, Mr  Mike Onolememen, has said.

Onolememen made the fact known  in Abuja, yesterday, at a one-day public lecture, organised by the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), with the theme: “Road sector reform for sustainable roads development’’.

According to him, for Nigeria to move toward a sustainable economy, commensurate with Vision 20:2020, there is a need to increase the total road network from the current 200,000km to 300,000km by 2020.

He said that the paved network would also need to be increased from the current 65,000km to over 200,000km by the year 2020.

The minister said the situation would require the construction or paving of an average 14,000km  of roads every year at the cost of N600 billion per year.

“The point has been made several times that Nigeria cannot overcome its road infrastructure development challenges unless necessary reforms are embarked upon to reposition the road sector to meet up with the world.

The Vision 20:2020 requires that Nigeria attains a GDP of, at least, 900 billion dollars by the year 2020 and GDP per capital of at least $4, 000. Experience has shown that there is a direct link between economic growth and the size and condition of road networks.

Thus, for every one dollar spent on road maintenance, there is a corresponding increase in the nation’s GDP.

The nexus between road development and economic growth made it imperative for the improvement of road network in new ways.

“This requires a paradigm change in the institutional structures that will separate policy, regulate, operation and management of roads, he said.

Onolememen explained that Nigerian roads were over-burdened because other transportation means like the railway were not working well.

He said that the Federal Government was working on measures to improve transportation in the country, thereby, bringing synergy to all the means of transportation to work effectively, especially the railways, so the heavy loads could be carried by trains.

The minister said that the government was working with the private sector, through the Public Private Partnership, to increase the road infrastructure in the country.

He said that by the end of the year, the rail line linking Port Harcourt to Maiduguri and the one from Kano to Lagos would be completed to enhance transportation.

Earlier, Chief Olayinka Addul, the president of APWEN said that the lecture was aimed at brainstorming on road development and to look for the way forward.

Abdul said that the association encouraged women to contribute their quota to infrastructure development.

She urged women not to leave the Works sector development to the men alone, as they also had tangible support and knowledge to contribute to the sector.