October 17, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has granted approval to the Ogun State Government to undertake repairs and implement tolling on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.
Minister of Works, David Umahi, disclosed this to State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
“On permission to build federal roads, when such requests are made, we give approval within 24 hours but then there are conditions to be met – they must have to use the Federal Ministry of Works standard designs,” Umahi said, adding that the project would be carried out under the Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI).
Umahi also said the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and the Federal Ministry of Finance would be involved in the process.
“Under HDMI, when they (State Governments) finish the roads, they have to toll it. There is a maximum number of years they have to toll it, recoup their money and then the funds will have to start coming into the Federation Account and that is why we are very much interested in how much the road is going to cost and to adopt the standard procedure in road construction and design. This is very important.
“An example of this system – HDMI – was the approval of Lagos-Otta-Abeokuta today (Monday) for Ogun State Government to build and toll,” he said.
