By Thompson ABISOLA
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has called on state governments to develop “Legislative Agenda on Infrastructure” to ensure that projects with higher preference were given adequate attention.
Fashola who made the call during a courtesy visit by Gov. Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun on Monday in Abuja, said the call was to address rivalry challenges in the choice of projects.
He said that with proper legislative agenda indicating the most important projects, the funds available to states could be channeled to the projects.
According to him, with a legislative agenda, important roads can be identified because every year, “we get fixed with the budget which is based on the resources that the country has generated.
“Within that framework, legislators want certain constituent projects and that may not be what the governor wants.
“Certain pool of funds come to the state and so, if there is a proper legislative agenda showing the most important roads for the year, it becomes everybody’s constituency project.
“So, all the funds available for roads in the state for the year can be channeled to the project. It is something that is not perfect but can be refined”.
Fashola said that funding had been a major challenge to road projects in the country but added that the Federal Government was currently constructing 365 roads nationwide.
The minister said that 121 of the projects were awarded by the current administration while 246 were awarded by past administrations between 2001 and 2015.
He called for state participation in the power sector, adding that the market had been made free since states were also part of owners of the DisCos.
Oyetola commended the minister for his giant stride in tackling infrastructure problems in the country.
He called for more of Federal Government presence in the state to revive some abandoned road projects as well as improve the funding of existing ones.
