The Federal Government has approved the return of toll gates, as well as a Federal Roads and Bridges Tolling Policy and Regulations.
The government also announced the recommended fees to be paid by motorists plying federal highways, Tolu Ogunlesi, the Special Assistant to the President on New Media, made this known in a statement on his Facebook page on Wednesday.
According to Ogunlesi, the decisions were announced by Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Works and Housing, at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.
The presidential aide stated that Fashola said the regulations were developed after extensive consultations with various stakeholders within and outside the government, including transport unions like National Union of Road Transport Workers, Road Transport Employers’ Association Of Nigeria, amongst others.
He listed the recommended tolling fees in the approved policy and regulations as mentioned by the minister as: Cars: N200; SUVs: N300; Private Buses: N300; Commercial Buses: N150; Luxury Buses and Trucks: N500.
Fashola was quoted as saying that a Willingness-To-Pay Survey was carried out to arrive at the recommended pricing framework, adding that the fees at existing tolled roads (Lagos and Abuja Airport Toll Plazas, and the Lekki and Ikoyi Toll Plazas) were also taken into consideration.
The minister disclosed that an Open Tolling system (just like the one that used to be in existence in the country), would be adopted instead of a Closed Tolling system.
He explained that “a Closed Tolling system means that you pay per distance travelled (distance-dependent), while Open Tolling means you pay a fixed/flat rate that is not dependent on distance travelled)”.
Fashola also stated that “only dual carriageways owned by the Federal Government will be eligible for tolling by the Federal Government”, noting that of the 35,000km of Federal Roads in existence in the country, only 5,050km are dual carriageway.
He said even though the policy has been approved, tolling is not going to start immediately, emphasising that it would not commence “until the roads are motorable”.
According to him, the details are being released “now for people to start getting familiar with it and for relevant stakeholders to start using it as a basis for their financial modelling and investment analysis, ahead of the eventual rollout of Toll Plazas”.
He added that the “toll revenues will be used to maintain the roads and also to repay investors who have invested in building or completing a road under the Highway Development Management Initiative (HDMI)”.
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