Govt mulls PPP for tolling of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

The Federal Government on Friday unveiled the modalities for the restoration of toll gates to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

A Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement is currently being contemplated for tolling the interstate route just as preparations are in top gear to weigh goods carried by trucks and tankers that ply the route.

Funsho Adebiyi, Director of Highways, Federal Ministry of Works, disclosed that the Federal Government might resort to a PPP in operating the tollgates while touring road projects alongside the Chairman Senate Committee on Works, Adamu Aliero, on Friday.

On his part, the Federal Controller of Works, Lagos, Adedamola Kuti, remarked that the expansion work on the road had incorporated new features like flyovers, toll plazas, underpasses and other facilities in a bid to ease the flow of traffic on the road.

Mr Kuti asserted that using the road would come at a cost to motorists upon completion in view of its massive transformation that will transform travel experience significantly.

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Senator Aliero gave accolades to the road contractors on the standard of execution,   asserting that enormous capital has been set aside for infrastructural projects including rail, road and power in the 2020 budget.

“We are happy that some of the funds will soon be released and will be used to fund road construction,” he affirmed.

Aliero assured the Senate would regularly back the PPP option by enacting laws favourable to its specific adoption for the execution of critical infrastructural projects.

The senator stated that “look at the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the project is not suffering because of funds because the government has made provision for it through sovereign wealth funds unlike other projects that are being undertaken by the Federal Government through budgetary allocation.

“The money is already there, all the contractor needs to do is to submit the certificate and he will be paid.

The road is also going to get additional funding from the recently recovered Abacha loot. This will certainly accelerate the completion of the road.”

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