…Meets Ogun, Oyo Govs over highway development
By Seun Adams
The Minister of Works Engr. David Umahi, has assured that the proposed 4th mainland bridge supersonic highway will take 4 hours to drive from Lagos to Abuja.
Reiterating the confirmation, he said: “We had a presentation on it yesterday with the consultant and it’s going to be on Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
We are concluding on it within one or two months and work will start, the Minister assured.
Umahi, made the remark during his meeting with the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun in his Office in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
The Minister, said: “We have a programme called Highway Development Management Initiative (HDMI) which will allows states and other private investors to engage with the federal government either to take over a fully constructed road to toll and maintain it in partnership with the Federal Government.
“Or take a brand-new road and reconstruct it and toll it, under laid down agreement, l am very much open to that, we will also bring some roads architecture into this kind of arrangement.
“There will be solar lights where we can fix CCTV to monitor our roads and increase visibility, this will largely reduce insecurity and also create service stations, we can monitor security at these service stations, we will have mini clinics, toll vans at this station just as we see outside the country.”
He continued: “It is better to break the law and save the life of Nigerians.”
He informed the Governor that any state government that wants to do PPP with federal government has his approval already.
“I am here for you, I pledge to my country and to you to align with your heart beat with the welfare of your people, road is everything when you have good road, insecurity is reduced, economy will boom, trade will thrive, education will thrive.
“Road is one infrastructure that will touch every sector of our economy. President Bola Tinubu is very committed to fixing our road that will last 50 years.” Umahi said.
The Minister explained that when people are suffering they don’t talk about who owns the road, fixing the road is what they are interested in and that was what Ogun Lagos and Oyo State Governments were doing, anyone that is complaining that he cannot fix Nigeria road is playing politics.”
Meanwhile, in another meeting with the Governor of Oyo State Engr. Seyi Makinde, in Ibadan, the Minister commended Oyo government for working on federal roads, adding:
“You have done quite a number of roads and you were not waiting that you must have all approval before you do it, if we are waiting for due process of refund for working on FG roads, our people will be the ones to suffer.”
We are happy and excited on your preference for road development especially the federal roads even as the federal government has also done a number of roads here in Oyo, Umahi said.
Prince Abiodun, in a remark, told the Minister: “I thank you for the remarks you made about how we have been very indiscriminate in working on roads weather they are Federal or State roads, when our citizens are suffering on the road, they don’t ask who owns the road.”
‘I thank you for saying you will give approval to any State Government that wants to fix Nigerian roads, that has demonstrated your capacity and understanding.”
At the meeting with the Oyo Governor, he said: “For us If a road is important to our economy we just go ahead and fix it, an example is the road between Oyo and Iseyin, the road passes through our major agriculture business hub and for agro- processors in the area , they need good roads to evacuate their products.”
Federal Government asked us to follow the federal standard in building the road which we did, the project is about 34km and shall be commissioned in 2 weeks’ time.
