The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola has said that the Highway Development and Management Initiative, HDMI, would create over 250,000 jobs for the nation’s teeming population.
The minister made the disclosure at a just-ended national conference on transportation infrastructure development financing in Nigeria, tagged “Sustainable Funding for Transport Infrastructure Development in Nigeria in Abuja said the initiative will create 50,000 direct jobs and over 200,000 indirect jobs.
Fashola said that “road transportation accounts for 95% of all freight and passenger movement in Nigeria, making it a strategic economic tool for Nigeria’s economic growth and prosperity.,” he stressed that the federal government’s ongoing road works presented’ ample opportunities for investors.
He stated that the government was executing over 700 different contracts that aggregate to 13, 000 kilometres of roads and bridges but the size of the work has created “an increasing and unsatisfied demand to fund and finance other complimentary services like way bridges, rest houses, and towing vehicles.”
At he conference which was organised by the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology, Zaria, to sought ways to sustain funding for transport infrastructure in Nigeria. Fashola pointed out that some of these services are best suited for a commercial initiative by the private sector in achieving a massive infrastructure renaissance in the country.
“This is another effort to mobilise revenue capacity, resources and entrepreneurship in the highway sector. The initial capital investment that we foresee is the order of 1.134 trillion and employment potential of 50,000 direct jobs and 200,000 indirect jobs.”
According to him, HDMI “is expected to, among other things, utilize private sector funds to bring about order, accountability and attract sustainable investment and funding in the development of road infrastructure and maximize the use of assets along the Federal Highways Right of Way (RoW)”.
