FG targets N1trn investment from highway concession, opens procurement portal on March 29

The federal government (FG) says it expects a capital investment of N1.13 trillion from the new highway development management initiative (HDMI).

Babatunde Fashola, minister of works and housing, who disclosed this on Tuesday, said the HDMI is made up of two categories namely; the value-added concessions (VAC) and the unbundled assets approvals (UAA).

The FG had earlier announced the receipt of the certificate of compliance signalling the commencement of the procurement process for the concession of 12 federal highways under the HDMI.

Fashola listed the 12 roads considered for the first phase of the VAC as 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.

“The initial capital investments that we foresee is something in the order of NGN 1,134,690,048,000.76 and the employment potentials are an estimated 50,000+ direct jobs and 200,000+ indirect jobs,” he said.

Under the VAC, the road pavement and entire right of way is concessioned for development and management by the concessionaire.

The UAA provides opportunity for small businesses to take advantage of the commercial opportunities that are available along the right of way.

He also said a procurement portal, that will receive applications from individuals who wish to build, operate and maintain highways, will be open on Monday, March 29.

Interested applicants can access the application portal on the specified date via this link.

The portal, an interface that will provide the public with information they need to know about the initiative and give access to relevant documents, news updates, video.

It will also contain details of the electronic procurement process – the management of the public private partnership (PPP) procurement process of the VAC and the process of approvals and permits under the UAA.

A vendor marketplace to promote local businesses and vendor partnerships with prospective concessionaires will also be included on the portal.

“The portal will be open for all HDMI related functions as earlier stated and most importantly the RFQ application for the VAC which will be officially advertised on the same day, ” Fashola said.

“Let me repeat that all our transactions will be done through this portal and we will not entertain any personal inquiries to me or to any of our staff who have correspondingly been mandated not to entertain such requests.”