Govt. proposes new road infrastructure system

IN the wake of increasing dilapidation of roads, maintenance backlog and accelerating loss of asset value, the federal authorities have concluded plans to establish a Road Asset Management System (RAMS) for its road network in the country.

The envisioned system will assist the Federal Ministry of Works (FMW) to rationalize decision making in planning, programming, funding, and procurement and in the allocation of resources in road sector to make the best use of public funds in preserve the road networks at an acceptable level of serviceability.

The RAMS will also improve the technical capacities, skills and management capabilities of the FMW and other state road agencies associated with road management and maintenance, thus improving their ability to manage efficiently and cost effectively road maintenance and improvement activities.

According to the Mike Onolememen, Minister of Works. the system which is slated to come into place in 2016, would be designed to reflect the state of international practice, in a way that suits the local need and conditions.

The minister who confirmed the development at the fourth edition of the Infrastructure Asset Summit organized by Codub Consulting in Lagos, recently, noted that pressure on public funds to provide services to the growing populations has implied a higher competition between the road sector and other social sectors such as education, healthcare, and defence. “As a result, the maintenance and operation of roads has suffered insufficient funding for the last several decades,” he said.

He said that despite the importance of road assets to the socioeconomic process, maintenance was neglected due to other political bias, improper government commitments or sheer lack of the right policies or decision-making.

Onolememen, represented by the Unit Manager, Road Sector Development Team, FMW, Isaq Mohammed, an engineer, said: “Allocations for asset preservation had been so low that the situation has generally worsened over the last two to three decades in such a way that less than 50 per cent of road asset preservation budgets are met. This state of affairs has caused a significance loss of asset value that will need to be replaced at much higher cost than when they were first built.”

Estimates show that the total asset value of Nigeria federal roads stands at $35 billion (N6 Trillion), if all roads were restored as new condition; actual current asset value –depreciated value due to poor conditions – is $18 billion (N3.1 million) while lost asset value due to poor conditions is estimated at $17 billion (N2.9 Trillion).

He said that challenges of advocating and balancing the investment resources across such a complex portfolio of assets, definitely calls for sophisticated technical tools. The benefits, Onolememen said, includes reduced transport costs, cost effectiveness, return on investment and accountability of implementing agencies.