The World Bank has granted Nigeria US$300 million to repair five major highways across the country, according to an official of the Bank. The private Punch newspaper Monday quoted the Acting Country Director of the Bank in Nigeria, Galina Sotirova, as saying that the road maintenance project had reached an advanced stage. ”The bidding documentation for the set of corridors is nearly complete. The project has been pre-appraised and soon a full appraisal mission will follow to prepare the project for negotiations within the first quarter of this year,” she said. The World Bank official said the project would translate into credible, transparent and economical road management system for the country.
The affected roads were listed as Lagos-Ibadan; Sagamu-Ijebu-Ode-Benin and Enugu-Abakaliki-Ogoja in the South as well as Abuja-Kaduna and Kaduna-Zaria-Kano in the North. Due to the worsening condition of Nigerian roads and the seeming inability of the government to maintain them, the federal government last week called for bids from interested private operators for the maintenance of the 10 major roads.
