FG’ll make 2,000km of road motorable this year

The Federal Government says its target in 2016 is to make about 2,000 kilometres of road network motorable.

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, made this known while fielding questions at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja on Wednesday.

Fashola explained that the current administration would ensure the completion of all strategic roads demanding urgent attention before undertaking other road rehabilitation projects.

“There are roads that only sections of them are bad. There are roads that are really devastated that need to be totally rebuilt.

“And so, that is why our target is to make about 2,000 km of roads motorable network this year.

“So, the way I explained it then makes sense. We are not building 2,000 km roads. Our budget cannot build 2,000 kilometres of roads in one budget year.

“But because there are bad sections, there are failed sections (and) there are sections that need to be repaired.

“If we do all of that, then Nigerians will have a pleasant riding and travelling experience over about 2,000 kilometres of road network.

“And we can do that year-on-year over the next three years.’’

Fashola also gave insight into how the ministry intends to go about spending funds allocated for the rehabilitation of roads.

He said the current budgeting system was targeted at eliminating the incidence of abandoned roads, as funds released would be effectively monitored to ensure that projects were completed.

“What we have done in the past is to budget for every road without being mindful of its state of completion.

“We must budget to complete projects that need special attention very quickly so that we are also not distracted in our capacity to monitor all projects.

“So, this year, we are going to put more money on certain projects because they are strategic and they have made some progress.

“And we think that we can finish them or nearly finish them either this year or next year.

“That does not mean that other projects are not important; but it means that we perhaps have to wait a little so that we finish those strategic ones.’’

The minister restated the commitment of the current administration to completing all road projects.