The Acting
Managing Director of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA),
Nurudeen Rafindadi, has said FERMA would not relent in engaging the
Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) in the
establishment of toll plazas across the country.
Rafindadi said the establishment of toll plazas in the country would be realized through public private partnership.
Rafindadi gave the assurance when he
received the Director General of ICRC, Chidi Izuwah, who led the
management team of ICRC to FERMA in Abuja.
Rafindadi said there was need for
inter-agency collaboration, saying it was essential if the country
desired to have a healthy and efficient road network.
FERMA, Rafindadi added, would discuss
with ICRC on the necessity to visit and tour India with a view to
studying the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) model of concession which has tremendous potential.
With the visit, Rafindadi said the team
aimed to see how it could be replicated in Nigeria since India and
Nigeria share similarities in so many respects.
Rafindadi further said the public private
partnership was an excellent model and the future of roads
infrastructure development with so many advantages, including increased
revenue generation, employment opportunities and toll collection.
In his remarks, Izuwah said since the
Federal Government spent at least 10 per cent of its gross domestic
product, there was an urgent need to explore areas of collaboration.
The collaboration, according to Izuwah,
would be carried out with other agencies, including similar state-level
public private partnership units.
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