Executive Order 007 must be matched with credible valuation system—Expert
The recent introduction of Executive Order 07, by President Muhammadu Buhari which is designed to provide leverage for private sector operators to take up and fund road reconstruction and be reimbursed by the Federal Government through tax holidays and compensations, may be another drainpipe if not well monitored by credible evaluation.
This was the position of an estate surveyor, Dr. Sola Adepetan in an interview with Business Hilights in Lagos, weekend.
The expert argued that “There are fears that some desperate corporate citizens can hide under the guise of the Order to rob off the government by inflating the true cost of road they signed to work on”.
“When we draw some levels of nasty experiences on the wishy-washy philanthropists’ jobs and projects embarked upon by some Foundations ran by big companies in Nigeria, we will begin to understand the weight of what am saying.
“It is on record that majority of the bills given by all these Foundations as the cost of their philanthropies’ are never realistic but because the feat is branded free service to humanity or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), nobody is interested to cross check the true cost value after all.
Dr. Adepetan therefore called for the establishment of a valuation agency that will be monitoring all the costs inputs by any company undertaking to deliver a particular road with the aim of getting tax compensation after delivery which is the spirit of the new Executive Order 07.
Business Hilights recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari had on Thursday last week, signed an Executive Order which allows private sector operators to build roads and be paid by government through tax compensation.
The Executive Order 7, 2019 on the Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Schemes was designed to develop and deliver public private partnership with notable investment so as to close the road infrastructure gap in the transportation sector. President Muhammadu Buhari, while signing the executive order, said that under the arrangement, 19 eligible road projects were to be taken by six leading manufacturing and construction firms located in 11 states and in each of the six geo-political zones.
Analysts say the new EO if not fraught with abuse, may provides another opportunity to deepen public private partnership (PPP) with companies and in the process close the yawning road infrastructure gap.
