The Federal Ministry of Works through its unit Road Sector Development Team (RSDT) is overseeing the development of some Federal Roads under the framework of the Federal Roads Development Project.  Under the framework, the Ministry has obtained a soft loan from the African Development Fund (ADF) and some credit from the International Development Association (IDA) otherwise known as the World Bank.

The ADF loan amounting to USD161.6million is being used for the implementation of the Nigeria-Cameroon Multinational Highway and Transport Facilitation Programme. The Programme comprises the following:

  1. Reconstruction of Abakaliki-Mbok (Ogoja Junction) Road and Pavement Strengthening of Ikom-Mfum-Cameroon Border Road in Nigeria
  2. Construction of border bridge over the Cross River to be paid for by Nigeria and Cameroon
  • Construction of a Joint Border Post at Mfum on the Nigerian side of the border through a grant obtained by ECOWAS
  1. Provision of axle load scales along the road to control overloading of the road
  2. Provision of social projects for communities along the road corridor such as boreholes, agricultural produce processing equipment and drying yards, markets, etc

Currently, the road reconstruction works valued at N13,083,990,510.32 has been awarded to Messrs. China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and is expected to be completed by November 2011. Work is progressing steadily at site. Work is however at preliminary stages for the Joint Border Post and the Border Bridge, but is expected to commence fully once the procurement processes are concluded.

On the World Bank assisted projects, the Ministry through the RSDT is carrying out preparatory works for the Rehabilitation and Periodic Maintenance of some Federal Roads. A summary of the projects is as listed below:

  1. Rehabilitation of Enugu-Abakaliki, and Ogoja Junction-Ikom Roads which is expected to be awarded before the end of the year
  2. Periodic Maintenance of eleven roads packaged in three batches which are expected to be awarded this year
  3. Design studies of Mokwa-Bida, Gombe-Biu, and Akure-Ilesha expected to be completed this year; and
  4. Collaboration with FERMA in the award and maintenance of six (6) roads based on Output and Performance-based Road Contracts (OPRC). This method of maintenance which is novel in the country will have the contractor maintain the roads for a number of years and payment made to the contractor based on the service level of the roads. The six roads are expected to be awarded before the end of this year.