By Inalegwu Shaibu

ABUJA-Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, has said the Federal Government is working to reintroduce toll gates.

Onolememen, who made the disclosure to the Senate Committee on Works, Thursday, in Abuja, kicked against the abolition of toll plazas, adding that it has reduced funding for the maintenance of the nation’s highways.

He also told the committee that government is making concerted efforts to ensure that the second Niger Bridge project is completed before 2015.

He said: “We need to have a legal framework that will enable us to pull resources together to service the national road fund. Toll gate is an option that government will look at. The abolition of toll plazas has completely robbed the road sector of the critical income that should have been used to rehabilitate the roads.”

Onolememen further observed that road construction cannot be handled by the Federal Government alone without participation from the private sector.

He said: “We will create enabling environment for the participation of the private sector in road development in the country.”

On the second Niger Bridge, he said: “We are currently collaborating with the ministry of finance and the World Bank which is already offering to fund the preliminary work on the project to the tune of $4 million.”

He also said the works ministry has included part of its counterpart funding in the 2012 budget estimates. The Minister assured that the second Niger Bridge would be delivered before the end of this administration.

Earlier in the event, chairman of the Committee, Senator Ayogu Eze decried the collapse of road infrastructures in Nigeria.