Before we concession our highways

By Salisu Na’inna Šambatta

 

SIR: The federal government recently released a ministerial notice for the commencement of the process of concessioning or leasing 12 highways in the six geopolitical zones to private sector operators. It is under the Highway Development Management Initiative (HDMI), being driven by the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, to ensure that financial constraints do not stop the development of good highways to support the economy.

The need to overcome the perennial financing constraints and ensure the provision of durable motorable highways informed the option of involving private sector financing in road development and management. It was however made clear that even in the face of existing financing constraints, the federal government is currently implementing 700 contracts for roads reconstruction and maintenance, and building new bridges on 13,000 kilometres of federal highways.

While it is true that concessioning of highways to private companies to manage is practiced in Africa and around the world for varied reasons, certain peculiarities around the Right of Way (ROW) should be recognised, appreciated and tackled to avoid misunderstanding.

The peculiarities include using the pits and burrows along the ROW for watering livestock by herders and using the waters for irrigation farming. A way out may be evolved right from the onset to ensure that herders, irrigation farmers and others drawing water from such ponds will continue to do so freely. The ponds and farmlands are presumed to belong to the communities along the ROW. What will be the future of markets and other structures in settlements the highways passed through? Will they belong to the companies that win the concessions as Unbundled Assets Approvals? These issues and more that will become obvious as the concessioning process reaches specific stages of implementation need to be factored and properly addressed in the concessioning arrangement.

To pre-empt any potential crisis, the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing should engage in long-term, frank, appropriate and adequate public awareness campaign to sensitise the citizenry on the entire implications of leasing the roads to private operators, an action that will impact on their daily, practical life. One-off sound bites are not enough.

An observation in an analysis by Ashurst at Ashurst.com titled ‘Road Infrastructure in Africa’ says: “Certain legal and institutional issues must be identified and addressed to ensure the successful implementation of road PPPs in Africa. Most of them are, of course, no different from those encountered when developing and financing roads in other parts of the world; the solutions in Africa will, however, sometimes significantly differ from those which apply elsewhere.” The principle fits the Nigerian environment.

Concessioning roads and other infrastructure is widely practiced around the world among both rich and developing countries. In Africa, South Africa, Mozambique, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Morocco and Algeria have done it. The Ashurst report noted, “There has been an increasing number of privately-financed road projects in various parts of Africa – some already completed, some currently under development – indicating that private financing can – and will – play an increasing role in the financing and development of the African roads network.”

In Europe, France has the most of leased roads. Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Russia and Poland, among others, have concessioned some of their highways and user-charges are paid. In some countries the road charges are embedded in high fuel costs.

There are sources of lesson for Nigeria on the best highways concessioning model to adopt. There are at least 10 African countries that have done it successfully or managing their highways effectively that can be under-studied by the Giant of Africa.

 

• Salisu Na’inna Šambatta, Abuja.