The establishment of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) in cognizance of the collaborative roles that the public and private sectors share in pursuing the country’s national growth and development agenda, especially as it concerns infrastructure provision and delivery was a great move.
Going by the key strategic objective of ICRC, which is to accelerate investment in national infrastructure through private sector funding by assisting the Federal Government of Nigeria and its Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to implement and establish effective Public Private sector partnership, the Commission under Engr. Chidi K.C. Izuwah, the Acting Director General, has played active role in building a pipeline of public infrastructure investment projects using the MDAs that are high priorities for the Federal Government to attract private sector investments. It also to the satisfaction of key stakeholders that the Commission ensured that a robust, transparent, efficient and equitable process was developed for managing the selection, development, procurement, implementation and monitoring of PPP projects and saw to it that that this process is being applied consistently to all relevant projects.
The Director General has creditably worked to ensure that the scope of the Federal Government’s programme for PPP in the creation of new infrastructure and the expansion and refurbishment of existing assets at the Federal level in the following areas are achieved. The scope covers a wide range of sectors such as: Power Generation and Transmission/ Distribution Networks, Roads and Bridges, Ports, Railways, Inland Container Depots and Logistics Hubs, Gas and Petroleum Infrastructure such as Storage Depots and Distribution Pipelines, Water Supply, Treatment and Distribution Systems.
Solid Waste Management, Educational Facilities (Eg, Schools, Universities,
Urban Transport Systems, Housing and Healthcare Facilities.
The Commission has also worked in synergy with other agencies, including similar state-level PPP units, to implement a cohesive national legal, policy and regulatory environment that is conducive to private sector investments in Nigeria’s infrastructure projects. In addition, it has within its few years of existence crafted guidelines for monitoring contract compliance during construction, operation and contract termination and supporting the MDAs assigned to this task. This has assisted the Federal Government and its MDAs to deliver effective and efficient infrastructural financing model and project execution.
The Commission has in big measure assisted in deepening PPP’s model in infrastructural projects in the country and empowered states and MDAs to be proactive and to deploy best practices
The Commission has also worked in synergy with other agencies, including similar state-level PPP units, to implement a cohesive national legal, policy and regulatory environment that is conducive to private sector investments in Nigeria’s infrastructure projects.
