Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has revealed plans by the federal government to construct a supersonic highway that will enable motorists travel between Lagos and Abuja in just four hours.
Umahi who disclosed this yesterday during a courtesy visit to the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, as part of his working visit to the South West, said the highway which would tear off with the proposed 4th Mainland Bridge would take off along Epe in Lagos State.
He said with the proposed 4th Mainland Bridge Supersonic Highway, it would take four hours to drive from Lagos to Abuja.
The minister informed the governor that the construction which would be under Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) arrangement would pass through Ogun State.
“We had a presentation on it yesterday with the consultant, and it’s going to be on Public Private Partnership (PPP), driving from Lagos to Abuja will take four hours, we are concluding on it within one or two months and work will start.
“We have a programme called Highway Development Management Initiative (HDMI) and it allows states and private investors to engage with the federal government either to take over a fully constructed road to toll and maintain it in partnership with government or take a brand new road and reconstruct it and toll it under a laid down agreement.
“l am very much open to that, we also bring some road architecture into this kind of arrangement; solar lights where we can fix CCTVs to monitor our roads and increase visibility, this will largely reduce insecurity and also create service stations, we can monitor security at these service stations, we have mini clinics, toll vans at these stations just as we see outside the country.
“Your Excellency, I am here for you, I pledge to my country and to you to align your heartbeat with the welfare of your people, road is everything, when you have good roads, insecurity is reduced, economy will boom, trade will thrive, education will thrive, road is one infrastructure that will touch every sector of our economy. Mr President is very committed to fixing our roads that will last 50 years,” Umahi said.
He noted that when people are suffering they don’t talk about who owns the road, saying fixing the road is what they are interested in and that was what Ogun, Lagos and Oyo state governments were doing, and anyone complaining that he cannot fix Nigerian roads is playing politics.
Governor Dapo Abiodun thanked the minister for giving approval to any state government that wants to fix roads, saying that had demonstrated his capacity and understanding.
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