UMUAHIA - The House Committee Chairman on the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Rep. Offor Chukwuegbo, said on Wednesday that the House was considering an alternative means of funding the agency to enhance its efficiency.
“We are working toward deducting five per cent from the pump priced of fuel, which is user charges, for the agency in order to enhance road maintenance,” Chukwunyego said in Umuahia.
He said this in an interview with newsmen while speaking on the need for proper funding of the agency.
He said: “FERMA as an agency is not well funded and we are making an alternative arrangement for proper funding of the organisation.”
He charged the governors to sponsor the passage of bills in their various assemblies for the establishment of State Road Maintenance Agencies.
“So that when the fund comes to us, we will be able to send 60 per cent of it to the state governments for road maintenance in their areas,” he said.
Chukwuegbo, who led other members of the committee on a tour of FERMA roads in Abia, expressed the need for Nigerians to distinguish between roads belonging to the agency and the Federal Ministry of Works.
He remarked that the agency was doing well within the limit of available resources but admitted that there was room for improvement.
He explained that the team inspected the Ogbor Hill Bridge, Aba, which, according to him, was at the verge of collapse.
He gave the assurance that the team would ensure that urgent steps would be taken by FERMA to fix it “as quickly as possible.”
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