FG’s N1.13trn Highway Concession Plan Records Milestone, 18 Firms Shortlisted

Emmanuel Addeh

The federal government through the Ministry of Works and Housing, yesterday took positive steps towards its plan to concession 12 major highways across the country, with the shortlisting of 18 firms to undergo the final screening.

The government had said that it expected a capital investment of N1.13 trillion from the new Highway Development Management Initiative (HDMI), driven by the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.

The 12 roads being considered for the first phase of the Value-Added Concessions Category (VAC) include: Benin-Asaba, Abuja-Lokoja, Kaduna-Kano, Onitsha-Owerri-Aba, Sagamu-Benin, Abuja-Keffi-Akwanga.

Others are Kano-Maiduguri, Lokoja-Benin, Enugu-Port Harcourt, Ilorin-Jebba, Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta and Lagos-Badagry.

Aside the N1.3 trillion capital investment, the federal government projected that the employment potential was estimated at about 50,000+ direct jobs and 200,000+ indirect jobs.

Speaking during Request For Proposal (RFP) public bid-opening ceremony in Abuja yesterday, Fashola insisted that the VAC was not a privatisation scheme, but a public/private partnership initiative that would bring sustainable development and management to federal highways and all assets along the Right of Way (RoW).

He noted that though the process has been long and tortuous, Nigeria was heading in the right direction, with the plan to unlock over N1 trillion in the short term.

He explained that when the administration started in 2015, only N18 billion was available to revamp the much-needed infrastructure throughout the nation, stressing that through sukuk funding about N100 billion had been raised with an additional N210 billion plus a number of tax credit schemes.

In addition, Fashola stated that some of the nation’s collective patrimony which was taken out of the country had been recovered which has gone into the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) and has further expanded the country’s assets.

He applauded the project development team for a job well done so far, pledging that the process will remain open and transparent.

According to him, the concessionaires would assume the responsibilities to develop and manage their respective highways for an agreed period of time, including the economic rights over all revenue generating commercial activities from the highway economy along the RoW.

He described the public bid-opening for the RFP as another milestone and further testament to the ministry of work and housing’s commitment to ensuring a robust, diligent, and transparent procurement process.

The process had commenced in March, 2021 with the opening of the e-portal and ended at midnight on 31 May 2021.

In all, a total of 75 firms completed the RFQ application for the VAC , which applies to the 12 selected federal highways for concession.

Following the evaluation process, the government noted that 18 firms have now been shortlisted to progress to the next phase of procurement.

The government listed other milestones that had been achieved in the intervening period since the conclusion of the RFQ in June and that of the RFP yesterday to include the approval of the National Tolling Policy (NTP) by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in August 2021.

In addition, the ministry stressed that an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) by the ministry of works and housing had been concluded.

Speaking at the event the Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) , Mr Alex Okoh, noted that the alternative model of funding remains a viable means of revitalising Nigeria’s waning infrastructure in collaboration with the private sector.

Also, the Acting DG of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mike Ohiani, in his comments , stated that it has been confirmed that the roads are economically and financially viable, before the initiative will move to the procurement stage.

Some of the entities shortlisted included: Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Africa Plus Partners Nigeria Limited, Avia Infrastructure Limited and CCCC-CGC-Hdwaks Joint Venture.

Also listed were China Harbour Engineering Company, Dafac Consortium, Deanshanger Consortium, Enyimba Economic City Development Company Consortium, Julius Berger and Setraco.