The Federal Government has announced that the Lagos Ibadan Expressway will be a toll road after its construction. The information was made available by the Ministry of Works, which also disclosed that the government had made available N50 billion for the rehabilitation of the road whilst N117 billion is to be raised by foreign investors arranged by the Infrastructure Bank Plc.
The ministry stated, “The Federal Government has made a total provision for the sum of N25bn as her own counterpart funding in the 2014 budget with a view to providing the balance of N25bn in the 2015 budget.”
The statement added: “It is worthy of note that from inception, the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts for implementation of the road project was awarded by the Federal Ministry of Works with attendant Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and Federal Executive Council (FEC) approvals to the two contractors.
“This was also subject to the finances scheme put in place through the private sector-led project finance; infrastructure finance facility with the Federal Government of Nigeria providing 30 per cent of the project cost (i.e. N50billion), while the balance of 70 per cent would be provided by the investors and financiers to the project. This arrangement will enable completion of the project on time and on budget. “
“Contrary to the misinformation that the Federal Government has voted N23million in the 2014 budget for hiring the services of consultants on PPP scheme, the Federal Government has made a total provision for the sum of N25Billion as her own counterpart funding in the 2014 budget, with a view to providing the balance of N25billion in the 2015 budget.”