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Toll payment returns on 5,050km Federal Highways, N500, N200 per trip
Modupe Shodeinde
The Federal Executive Council has approved the reintroduction of toll collections on some selected dual carriageways across the country
According to the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, yesterday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting approved a memorandum his ministry presented to allow tolling on 5,050-kilometre of dual-carriage federal roads and bridges after all modalities have been finalised.
Fashola told reporters at Aso Villa after the FEC meeting that vehicles will pay between N200 and N500 depending on how they are classified.
He said the toll collection will be automated to guarantee transparency.
Funds realised from the toll plazas will be used to maintain the roads and to construct new ones, he explained.
He added that wide consultations were made before arriving at the decision.
The minister argued that unless there is an alternative source of funding, the government will not be able to maintain its roads.
The decision was made almost two decades after the Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration dismantled all toll plazas on federal roads across the country in 2003.
He said, “So the total network of roads today, assuming we wanted to start today, which we’re not, that will be eligible for tolling on the federal network will be 14.3 per cent of the total network. So, 85.27 per cent will not be eligible for tolling.
“We have seen that most of those dual carriageways also have alternative roads, but they are single carriageways; that’s why we left them. So, the only exception to single carriageway are some bridges and they are listed in the regulation.”
The minister said with the FEC approving the reintroduction of toll plazas on selected roads, it was now working modalities to determine how soon the tolling system would take off.
He said, “The Ministry of Works and Housing presented a policy memorandum for the approval of federal roads, bridges, tolling policy, and also a regulation that will provide a legal framework for the tolling policy.
“So, we have taken another step. So let me be clear, tolls are not going to start tomorrow. So let us be clear about that.”
Fashola stressed that the open tolling system to be introduced would not commence until the affected roads were motorable while operational agreements would have to be negotiated with relevant government agencies.
The Minister also said the toll collected would not only be used to maintain the roads but would also be used to construct new ones while the toll system would be electronically driven for transparency.
Fashola noted that FG consulted widely with public and private sector stakeholders before agreeing to reintroduce toll on federal highways.
