Federal Gov’t Outlines New Conditions For Road Concession

The Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi, has introduced new parameters for road concessionaires under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model of road infrastructure development known as Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI).

The Minister said the parameters were to ensure efficient utilisation of the completed projects by road users.

He mandated that one carriage way must be 100 per cent completed before tolling by concessionnaires, among other new conditions.

The Minister gave the conditions during a meeting with the Public Private Partnership Unit of the Federal Ministry of Works and Messrs Africa Plus Partners Nigeria Ltd (APPNL), concessionaires for the Benin City-Asaba and Lagos-Abeokuta Road corridors in his office on February 12, 2024.

The meeting had in attendance the team of the PPP headed by Mrs Ugwu-Chima Nnennaya and the team of APPNL led by Mr. Dipo Lawore and Mr. K. V. Rao.

A statement by the Special Adviser to the Minister on Media, Barr. Orji Uchenna Orji, said the parameters would be fine-tuned, agreed upon and adopted in all contractual relations between the Federal Government and concessionaires going forward.

He listed the new parameters to include; “the design of the project to be in line with the specification of the Federal Ministry of Works and investor can only improve upon the design made by the Ministry.

“A reasonable construction period must be agreed upon.

“There shall be no variation on the project.

“100% of one carriage way must be completed before tolling by concessionaires.

“The business plan must be in line with the socio-economic dynamics.

“Terms of tolling of road projects must be in accordance with the Laws of the Federation, and standard contract conditions must be followed.

“Contingency and variation on Price (VOP) shall be utilized only by the express and written permission of the client.

“Bill of Quantities shall be verified and adopted in line with the prevailing market prices.

“Road count on traffic shall be carried out by the investor and where such data has been provided by the client, it is the duty of the investor to accept or verify and where the investor accepts, it shall be binding on all.

“It shall be the duty of the investor to sensitize the public on the toll programme in every project.

“The client shall have the right to terminate the job of the investor for failure to comply with the time of road project completion.

“Every road construction for highways must be in accordance with the highway standard prescribed by the Laws of the Federation,” he said.

The statement said the meeting which dwelt on the review of the project parameters for the Benin-Asaba and Lagos-Abeokuta Road corridors as negotiated in 2022 by Messrs. Africa Plus Partners Nigeria Ltd (APPNL) was necessitated by the heightened inflationary pressures, exchange rate concerns, reduced vehicular traffic on the highways occasioned by the increase in fuel pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

In their separate responses, the team leader of the APPNL and the head of the PPP Unit of the Federal Ministry pf Works assured the Minister of their commitment to the innovative initiatives of the Federal Ministry of Works on road infrastructure.

They appreciated the Minister for pointing out that there was a dire need to review not only the cost of the concessioned project, but also the scope of the project to meet with the standard of road construction.

They expressed their commitment towards a robust negotiation on the project review that would lead to a financial close so that work could commence without further delay.

The concessionnaires also promised to carry out further technical analysis on all the issues raised at the meeting and re-present same to the Minister for consideration.