The Minister of Works, Babatunde Raji Fashola, has called for caution in the setting up of a national roads fund.
This according to him, is especially as it has to do with collecting taxes for the proposed road fund.
The minister made this appeal during the public hearing on two bills that seek to establish the national roads fund, which will house funds for the development and maintenance of national roads.
The minister also called attention to the fact that local governments have the largest road networks and that there is need to ensure that local governments get more funds.
This follows a statement by House Of Representative member, Okechukwu, who on Sunday, said the objective of the National Roads Fund Bill include: to establish the National Roads Fund which will serve as repository for revenues accruing from road user related charges and other sources for financing the development, rehabilitation, maintenance and other activities related to the provision of national roads.
The bill is also to establish the national roads fund board , which would be responsible for the management of the roads fund, in accordance with the provisions of the act, while promoting sustainable development and operation of the road sector in Nigeria.
Another bill to be considered is the federal road fund bill, which seeks to establish the federal road fund to be a pool of dedicated funds that would finance the maintenance of federal roads in Nigeria and promote the sustainable development and operation of road networks across the country.
Also expected to be engaged by the committee on works, chaired by Rep. Toby Okechukwu, are the Ministers Of Budget And National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister Of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu and the Attorney General of the Federation as well as Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami.
With various on-going re-habilitation projects, the federal government says it has so far spent over 73 billion Naira on road projects across the country.
