The Federal Executive Council (FEC) gave on Wednesday the Nigerian National Oil Company (NNPC) Limited approval to invest N1.9 billion in the reconstruction of 44 federal highways.
The council gave the go-ahead at its meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The vice president’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, made the disclosure when speaking to House correspondents on behalf of the Minister of Public Works and Housing after the meeting.
Mr. Akande noted that FEC has approved the recommendation to invest in the reconstruction of selected federal highways under the federal government’s Highway Development and Restoration Investment Tax Credit Policy, phase 2, by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited and its subsidiaries.
“So, the council approved the proposal of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing for the reconstruction of 44 proposed federal roads with a total length of 4,554 kilometers for the total sum of N1.9 trillion,” he said.
He pointed out that the council also approved the concession of nine federal roads, distributed throughout different parts of the country.
In 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari signed Executive Order No. 7 on the Road Infrastructure Development and Renovation Investment Tax Credit Scheme. The scheme allows the federal government to harness the capital and efficiency of the private sector for the construction, renovation and maintenance of critical road infrastructure in key economic areas of the country.
On Wednesday, Akande said that following the issuance of Full Business Case (FBC) compliance certificates required by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRCN), FEC also approved 25-year concessions for nine highway corridors in the pilot phase. of highway development and management initiative.
“The highways that will be under this first phase are the Benin-Asaba corridor, Abuja-Lokoja-Onitsha-Owerri-Aba-Shagamu-to Benin, Abuja-Keffi-Akwanga-Lafia-Makurdi, Kano-Maiduguri, Enugu-Port Harcourt, Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta and Lagos-Badagry-Seme,” he said.
Akande added that the Ministry of Public Works and Housing has also obtained council approval for the extension of the contract for the rehabilitation of the Oshogbo-Ilesha highway, phase one, in Ilesha-Oshogbo, Osun state.
The contract was awarded to construction company Messers Orizon for the sum of N1.2 billion, he explained, adding that the amount of the remaining contract was revised from N3 billion to N4 billion, representing an increase of 33 per cent. with respect to the original sum.
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