Fashola made this known in Thursday when he appeared
before members of the Senate Committee on Federal Roads Maintenance Agency
(FERMA).
The Minister said that the reintroduction of the
toll gates by the Federal Government
will be consummated after completion of
major highways adding that the toll gates are to be managed by the private
sector.
He told the lawmakers of plans by the government to
design software for the monitoring of vehicles passing through the roads.
According to him, road users would be able to pay
toll through their phones, explaining that the toll collected would be used for
maintenance of the highways.
“We have concluded plans to reintroduce toll gates
across the country and we have finalised the design,” he stated.
“It will be managed by private sector and it will be
located in the old places, 38 point across the country.
“We are only waiting for the completion of those
roads before we introduce the toll gates.”
Fashola also stated that out of N25 billion budget
for FERMA in the 2017 Budget, only N800 million has so far been released to the
agency by the Ministry of Finance.
He also said that the N100 billion sourced through
the Sukuk Bond, was yet to be released to his ministry to carry out 25 major
road constructions in the six geopolitical zones of the country.
He said that FERMA could be more effective and
efficient if overhauled and compeled to limit its operations to the core
mandate of maintaining federal roads.
“FERMA can be the largest construction company in
the country. It depends on what we are willing to put into the agency. In the
past, FERMA collected monies for roads they did not construct. That has to stop
in this government,” he said.
“We are working with the Army Corps to see how we
can develop local content. FERMA can be biggest construction firm. The
unemployment challenges we have can be reduced if FERMA is busy is every
state.”
He admitted that the worst roads are located in the
Southsouth and Southeast geopolitical zones, adding that an audit of bad roads
showed that some of the roads were built before the 1967-1970 civil war but
assured that efforts are on top gear to fix the roads.
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