The Managing Director/CEO of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Engr. Chukwuemeka Agbasi, PHD FNSE, said FERMA will collaborate with Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) for infrastructural development and development of new models that will improve the value and serviceability of Nigeria roads.
The MD said this during a courtesy visit to the Agency’s Headquarters by delegations from ICRC led by the Director General/CEO, Mike A. Ohiani on Friday, 24th May, 2024.
Speaking, Ohiani said the ICRC seeks partnership with FERMA in areas such as Capacity Building, Technical Support and Assistance, Research Collaboration, Road Maintenance Scorecard and Standards System. According to him, exploring these opportunities for partnership between FERMA and ICRC will enhance capacity for FERMA and ICRC staff, Improve road maintenance and effectiveness in infrastructure development as well as strengthen concession management.
Responding, Engr. Agbasi pointed out that collaborating with ICRC is a timely development and would be of great advantage to FERMA considering the constant call for shrinking government revenues where Agencies such as FERMA is asked to do more with less which leads to exploring models that can help maximize the utility of road assets available in Nigeria. According to him “building roads is probably the easy part. But actually getting value from the road, over fifteen years operational maintenance is where issues lie and this is where ICRC helps in enhancing asset management using data to plan, programme and execute road works with budgetary shortfalls.”
He added that FERMA, complying to ICRC regulations will consider having different standards of roads with different Key Performance Indicators (KPI) where roads would be constructed on different standards depending on the traffic volumes which will help optimize the resources deployed on road networks.
Engr. Agbasi noted that FERMA and ICRC collaboration is a mutually beneficial partnership which the Agency will commit its time and resources to bring about a fruitful result that will enable the Nigeria Public enjoy better road infrastructure services.
Maryam Sanusi, fnipr.
Director Information and Public Relations.
