MINISTER of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, on Monday, said that future road interventions in the country would take the form of dualisation.
He also said that plans were underway for all major routes in the country that linked Trans Sahara route to be upgraded.
Fashola, who spoke at the 65th session of the Trans Saharan Road Liaison Committee, which held in Abuja, noted that the country attached great importance to the development of the Trans Sahara Road which traversed Algeria, Tunisia, Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Mali.
He said that the country had made significant progress on the project, including the 127.70kilometre Lagos-Ibadan and the 50kilometre Oyo-Ogbomosho.
The minister observed that the meeting came at an appropriate time when there was the compelling need for integration of socio-economic activities among African countries.
According to him, it had become evident that connecting Africa with an efficient road network, remained the most effective way to improve socio-economic development among the nations.
“The efforts of the Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, are fully committed to the dualisation of the entire section of the Trans Saharan route in Nigeria
“The 65th session of the Trans Sahara Road Liaison Committee further offers member countries the opportunity to strengthen the existing bilateral relations and provide an avenue to assess the extent of work that has been undertaken in ensuring the completion of the Trans Sahara route
“The fact that out of a total length of 9, 500kilomtres of the Trans Saharan Route, more than 8, 000kilomtres of it, has been surfaced with bituminous material, which is a great achievement and more is expected to maintain and ensure the serviceability to the benefit of member countries and its peoples,” he said.
Speaking, the secretary general of the committee, Mohammed Ayadi, said that the project was a good example of active cooperation and the achievements that countries and institutions of the continent may jointly and in good harmony realise.
He said that the project was progressing relatively well, despite the scarcity of financial resources.
According to him, three of the six countries where the road passes, had constructed almost all the totality of their respective sections and were involved in dualising their roads in order to face up to the growth of traffic.
He said that the situation had also most positively improved for the Niger and Chad sections, despite the fact that the countries were less wealthy and landlocked in the midst of a desert.
