1,374km roads approved by FEC to generate N11.54trn — ICRC

The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) says the 1,374 kilometre road projects approved by the Federal Council (FEC) will generate over N11.54 trillion for the country.

A statement by Manji Yarling, the Acting Head, Media and Publicity of ICRC, on Thursday in Abuja said the projects would utilise the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model in its 25 years concession period.

Yarling said that the approval for construction and maintenance of the roads were under the Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI) with the guidance of the commission.

He listed the routes to include 125 kilometres Benin-Asaba road which has been granted concession for a 25-year period and is expected to generate N1.58 trillion with the concessionaire, Africa Plus Consortium.

Others are the 195km Abuja-Lokoja road which also has a 25-year concession period and expected to generate N1.76 trillion with Avia Infrastructure Services Ltd (AISL) as concessionaire.

According to him, the 161.2km Onitsha-Owerri-Aba route would generate N706 billion with Eyimba Economic City Consortium as concessionaire, among others.

Yarling said that the projects was aimed at ensuring the management and development of the country’s Federal Road Network achieve adequate highway services.

“The aim of the partnership is to develop and manage federal road network, thereby supplementing the Federal Government’s budgetary allocation for infrastructural development stage.

“Some key objectives of the projects is to leverage private sector investment to improve facilities and operations on the selected routes, infrastructural development using a commercial approach that bridges funding gaps.

“It is also to maximise the revenue-generating potential of the routes and achieve equity in road charges,” he said.

Yarling also said that the emergent concessionaires would recoup their investment through the use of road tolls and other land value capture infrastructure.