MTN has been given the approval to take over the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway construction under the road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme of around ₦202.8 billion.
According to The Punch, The Federal Executive Council, on Wednesday made the announcement through the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.
Fashola disclosed this to State House correspondents shortly after this week’s council meeting chaired by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to Fashola, the approval followed Executive Order 7 signed by the President in January 2019, this, he said, would enable the telecom giant to complete the dualisation of the 110-kilometre road.
Fashola noted, “The Ministry of Works and Housing presented two memoranda and they are largely PPP-based memoranda. On January 25, 2019 specifically, President Buhari approved Executive Order 7, which was the road infrastructure tax credit scheme, to allow the private sector to invest tax liabilities in advance in infrastructure, and that policy has helped us to finance roads like or by Obajana to Kaba, Apapa-Oshodi, Oshoki-Ojota Expressway, the Bodo-Bonni expressway in Port Harcourt, about 1000 kilometres covering 21 roads under the NNPC investment. So, there is an increased optic for that policy. Today, we have two more.
“The first that was approved is the one by MTN Nigeria Plc to take over and complete the ongoing Enugu-Onitsha Expressway. That road is 110 kilometres, which is being dualised. So, you have 110 kilometres times two.”
