The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) is proposing that the Federal Government develop the 65 hectares fallow land around the 134 hectares National Arts Theatre to an entertainment city.

Mr Chidi Izuwah, the acting Director-General, ICRC, made the suggestion in a presentation to a body of Federal Government Permanent Secretaries on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said that right now the land, which should be fetching billions in revenue to the Federal Government, had remained undeveloped.

He said that this could be remedied at minimal cost to the government through Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

“Through PPP, the investor will renovate the entire national theatre, build an aqua park with five-star hotel and office spaces.

“The project will not only beautify the environment, but it will be a major source of revenue to the government,” he said.

Izuwah said that the ICRC had also identified eight roads with high economic potential that could benefit from PPP arrangement.

He identified the roads as the Second Niger Bridge, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the rehabilitation and upgrade of 368-km Shagamu-Benin-Asaba expressway and the reconstruction and upgrade of Abuja-Kaduna-Kano dual carriage road.

Izuwah also identified Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road, dualisation of Ibadan-Ilorin-Tegina-Kaduna highway, the upgrade of Enugu to Port Harcourt expressway, the upgrade of East-West road and the reconstruction of Aba-Ikot-Ekpene-Calabar road as bankable PPP road projects.

“To sustain current economic growth and meet 20:20:20 projections, the 193,000-km road network needs to be increased to 300,000km by 2020.

“ICRC is working across ministries to provide the stable world class regulatory framework that will drive and accomplish our major infrastructure delivery objectives.

“Remember that one per cent increase in a nation’s Infrastructure increases GDP by one per cent, thus the fastest way to accelerate economic growth in Nigeria is by developing infrastructure,” he said (NAN)

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