From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Acting Managing Director of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Nurudeen Rafindadi, has said FERMA would not relent in engaging the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) in the establishment of toll plazas across the country.
Rafindadi said the establishment of toll plazas in the country would be realised through public private partnership.
Rafindadi gave the assurance when he received the Director General of ICRC, Chidi Izuwah, who led the management team of ICRC to FERMA in Abuja.
Rafindadi said there was need for inter-agency collaboration, saying it was essential if the country desired to have a healthy and efficient road network.
FERMA, Rafindadi added, would discuss with ICRC on the necessity to visit and tour India with a view to studying the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) model of concessioning which has tremendous potential.
With the visit, Rafindadi said the team aimed to see how it could be replicated in Nigeria since India and Nigeria share similarities in so many respects.
Rafindadi further said the public private partnership was an excellent model and the future of roads infrastructure development with so many advantages, including increased revenue generation, employment opportunities and toll collection.
In his remarks, Izuwah said since the Federal Government spent at least 10 per cent of its gross domestic product, there was an urgent need to explore areas of collaboration.
The collaboration, according to Izuwah, would be carried out with other agencies, including similar state-level public private partnership units.