Dr. Jobson Ewalefoh, the newly appointed Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), says his administration will streamline processes required to deliver Public Private Partnerships (PPP) projects, to accelerate infrastructure development.
Ewalefoh said this at a meeting on Monday that the streamlined processes would help bridge infrastructure gaps and stimulate the economy.
He said that PPP was required in every sector in view of the infrastructure gaps in the country, hence the need for critical steps in advancing its delivery.
Project concession to raise N647bn revenue-ICRC
“With the gap that we have in Nigeria, we need PPPs in almost every area and PPPs go beyond building infrastructure; service is a very key component of infrastructure building.
“Even if we do not build infrastructure, if we optimise the existing ones, what we will get will be novel and the impact we will create will be so huge.
“If we use PPP to optimise the general hospitals that we have, what it will give us will be phenomenal,” he said.
He listed the key points of his policy direction to include innovative financing, service delivery optimisation and project categorisation.
Others are time bound delivery of projects, inter-agency collaboration as well as strategic partnerships.
Ewalefoh said his policy direction was in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
Citing the Nigerian Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP), he said that the country’s infrastructure was weak and required financing to revolutionise the economy.
On already existing PPP projects, the D-G said that the Commission would evaluate all concession contracts to ensure they were performing optimally.
He said the Commission would also ensure that the projects were a win-win for both private investors and the government.
Ewalefoh said the Commission would within the ambit of the law resolve hitches that hampered execution of projects, as long as such projects were bankable and viable.
