The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing has shortlisted 18 firms from a pool of 75 to operate and toll 12 commercially viable routes under a concession agreement.
The ministry has also finished analyzing applications for phase one of the Value-Added Concession (VAC) under the Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI), according to a statement from Hakeem Bello, the spokesman for Babatunde Fashola, the minister of works and housing.
The 12 roads, totaling 1,963 kilometers, will be operated by private sector firms/consortia that are technically and financially viable. Benin-Asaba, Abuja-Lokoja, Kano-Katsina, Onitsha-Owerri-Aba, Sagamu-Benin, and Abuja-Keffi-Akwanga are the cities involved.
Others include; Kano-Maiduguri (Kano-Shuarin), Kano-Maiduguri (Potiskum-Damaturu), Lokoja-Benin, Enugu-Port Harcourt, Ilorin-Jebba, Lagos-Otta-Abeokuta, and Lagos-Badagry-Seme.
The winning companies are expected to improve the roads, build and run toll facilities, install and operate weighbridges.
The bid review procedure was approved at a Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting headed by Fashola, when Abimbola Asein, the head of the ministry’s Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) branch, said proposed preferred/reserved bidders had been identified.
The process started on March 29, 2021, with the opening of the HDMI portal, and by May, 2021, 75 firms/consortia submitted valid applications.
From October 2021 to February 2022, when the Request For Proposals (RFP) was opened, a team analyzed the proposals and prequalified 18 firms.
According to the ministry, the 18 firms are still undergoing due diligence, and bidders who falsify submissions may be excluded.
The ministry afterwards will negotiate the technical and financial terms and obtain approval from the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) as well as approval from the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for the Compliance Certificate before signing the concession agreement to complete the contract.
