THE Federal Ministry of Works and Housing has set aside N1bn in its 2021 budget as consultancy fees to be paid to experts that would supervise its roads and bridge projects.

The ministry also proposed to spend N1bn this year to provide road signage and other road furniture on federal highways across the country.

Apart from these, the ministry set aside N15m for the development of highways design software while N250m was voted for the Recovery of Right of Way on Federal Road nationwide this year.

It proposed to spend N2.5bn as intervention fund to provide internal roads in the tertiary institutions across Nigeria this year.

The ministry equally plans to spend N2.2bn on the rehabilitation, repairs and maintenance of 31 old bridges nationwide.

This is apart from the N2bn it plans to spend on special repairs of failed sections of federal roads not under contracts.

The amounts are part of the over N276bn which the ministry voted for highways rehabilitation and repairs in the current fiscal year.

Apart from these, the ministry set aside N15m for the development of highways design software while N250m was voted for the Recovery of Right of Way on Federal Road nationwide this year.

It proposed to spend N2.5bn as intervention fund to provide internal roads in the tertiary institutions across Nigeria this year.

The ministry equally plans to spend N2.2bn on the rehabilitation, repairs and maintenance of 31 old bridges nationwide.

This is apart from the N2bn it plans to spend on special repairs of failed sections of federal roads not under contracts.

The amounts are part of the over N276bn which the ministry voted for highways rehabilitation and repairs in the current fiscal year.

A copy of the document was obtained by our correspondent in Abuja.

In the document, the ministry allocated various sums to the rehabilitation of 711 roads and bridges at the cost of N276,243,984,521:23, to be sourced from the Capital Development Fund.

A critical study of the budget revealed that the money voted to the various highway and bridge projects were meagre and could not make much impact on the affected infrastructure.

For instance, the ministry voted N24.8m for the emergency repairs of the Ibadan-Ife dual carriageway.

It also voted additional N200m for the dualisation of the Ibadan-Ife -Ilesha Road.

The FMW & H also planned to spend a meagre N100m on the rehabilitation, construction and expansion of the Lagos – Ibadan dual carriageway this year.

Special repairs of 14 critical locations along the Iseyin – Oyo Road, according to the document, will cost N68.2m.

It voted N271m for emergency repairs of the Ibadan – Ilorin Road and N100m for the reconstruction of the failed sections along the Benin-Ofosu-Ore-Ajebandele-Sagamu Expressway.

It planned to spend N151m for the emergency repairs of the Ikorodu-Itoikin Road while it voted N150m for the emergency repairs of the Oyo-Ogbomoso Road

It allocated N100m for the ongoing dualisation of the Lagos-Ota Road.

A careful study of the document, however, revealed that projects which attracted above N1bn were sighted in the northern part of the country.

The highest allocation of the ministry is the upgrading and rehabilitation of Keffi-Akwanga-Lafia Road in Nasarawa State which attracted N56.7bn

It also planned to spend N13.6bn being its counterpart funding for the Abuja-Keffi, Keffi-Akwanga-Lafia -Makurdi-Oturkpo roads.

Other projects in the North are the Ibi bridge in Taraba State (N1.9bn) and the rehabilitation of the Nguru- Gashua-Bayamari Road in Yobe State (N3.4bn)

They also include the Oshogbodo-Oweto Road in Benue State (N2bn), the construction of the Kaduna Eastern by-pass (N2.1bn), Construction of Wudil bridge to link Gaban Komi with Wudil by-pass on Maiduguri Road in Kano State (N1.5bn)

The rehabilitation of the Sokoto-Tambuwal-Jega-Kotangora-Makera Section 1 in Sokoto and Kebbi states attracted N2.6bn

They also included the counterpart funding for joint border bridge at Mfum/Ekok in Cross River State (N1bn), Construction of Ikom bridge in Cross River State (N2.1bn), and the emergency repairs of the Marine Bridge in Lagos State (N2.6bn).

Some other projects that attracted up to N1bn in the southern part of Nigeria are the emergency rehabilitation and maintenance of the Third Mailand bridge (N14bn) and the rehabilitation of the Odukpani junction-Akpet Central section of Calabar-Ikom-Ogoja road in Cross River State (N2.2bn)

The reconstruction of Abak-Ekparakwa-Ete-Ikot-Abasi road in Akwa Ibom State got N1.1bn allocation, while the dualisation of Obajana junction to Benin got N2.2bn.

The construction of Achingali-Udo Obizi-Udo-Naumunwanna-Ubakala Road in Imo State also got N2.2bn allocation.

Source:- Punch Ng