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Expert seeks quick passage of Roads Reforms Bill into law

By on December 27, 2015

A highway engineering expert, Dr. Mayne David-West Snr. has called for the speedy passage of the Roads Reform Bills into law by the National Assembly.

David-West,   who is the principal partner, Pearl Consultants stated this in a paper titled “Road Sector Reform: An Imperative for Sustainable Development”.

The paper was presented at the just concluded Second National Conference and Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigeria Highway Engineers Institute (NHEI) which took place in Abuja.

He revealed that the approximate asset of the country’s roads is N5.0 trillion, noting that excellent roads will cause considerable reduction in the cost of production and save time of movement of goods and persons from place to place.

According to him, the situation of road infrastructure contributes substantially to the rate of poverty particularly, among the peasants who as farmers, artisan and other petty traders who inhabit mostly the neglected rural areas of the country.

He disclosed that with about 200,000 kilometres of road network, Nigeria has the largest road network in West Africa and the second largest, south of the Sahara.

He, however, expressed regret that only about 65,000 kilometres of this number is paved with bitumen.

He revealed that about 95 per cent of both passenger and freight movements in Nigeria are by road, pointing out that federal roads account for only about 54 per cent of the total bituminous national road network.

He disclosed that this figure also accounts for more than 80 per cent of the national vehicular and freight traffic.
He stated that the reform agenda in the road sector seeks to deliver better and safer roads to citizens as well as link the six geo-political zones in the country with dual carriage ways.

Giving an insight into the provisions of the roads reforms bill in the National Assembly, he said the passage and implementation of the bill will stimulate private sector financing of roads infrastructure across the country.

According to him, the bill will ensure sustainability in the delivering of good road infrastructure and that will bring all highway roads under regular maintenance across the nation. With the estimated average of national road network at 194, 200 kilometres, 34,120 kilometres are federal roads, while 30,500 kilometres represents roads owned by states of which 129, 580 kilometres belong to the Local Government Areas.

His words: “68.3 per cent of the country’s roads are in terrible condition and that 40 per cent of the bad roads belong to federal government, 78 per cent to the states and 80 per cent to the local governments”.

David-West,  who is also a Fellow of the Nigeria Society of Engineers ( NSE),  said when the reform bills are passed into law, the pathway whereby huge private funds can be attracted to invest in the road sector to fill the funding grabs within a framework of sustainable contractual arraignment will be created.

“Investment in critical road infrastructure will cover different forms of long term contracts drawn between legal entities and public authorities, aimed at financing designs, constructing, operating and maintaining the roads for sustainable road network development”, he said.

He explained that the passage of the bill will usher in a new way with opportunities in the country for engineering professionals and job creation in the industry as well as allied industries.

“The proposed National Road Fund Bill of 2014 is to guarantee a sustainable fund and management for road sector besides the annual budget. The Federal Road Autonomy Bill of 2014 will create semi-autonomous road agency that will be responsible for the efficient constructions, maintenance and rehabilitation of Federal roads as well as providing the overall framework and advice for coordinating and technical specification of national roads including states and local government road”, he added.

David-West enumerated best practices in the road sector reforms to include the emergence of an independent road manager who acts in the interest of road users; the establishment of steady funding; programmed and sustainable maintenance of existing facilities within the road network through such alternative funding scheme; and maximum private sector involvement in the implementation of all construction and maintenance work through competitive and transparent bidding.

He argued that even though federal roads constitute only 17 percent of the total national stock, they carry more than 70 percent of the national vehicular traffic, thus underscoring their crucial importance to the economy of the country.

His words: “The federal roads have been subjected to severe pressure as a result of increased vehicular traffic as well as freight especially given the near absence of rail, marine and other forms of transport to convey heavy goods. To attain a sustainable economy commensurate with vision 2020, Nigeria needs to increase its total road network from the current 193,000 to over 300,000 kilometres by 2020. The paved network will need to increase from the current 65,000 kilometres to over 200,000 by 2020. This requires the construction or paving of an average 14,000 kilometres of road every year requiring an estimated N600 billion per year. For every S1 spent on road maintenance, there is a corresponding increase in the nation’s gross domestic products (GDP).

 

[ThisDay]