Plateau Plans 6.5km of New Roads in Every LGA Headquarters
The Plateau State Government has proposed the construction of 6.5 kilometres of new roads in each of the 17 Local Government Area headquarters as part of a wider urban development and infrastructure expansion programme under the budget.
The Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Arch. Silvanus Dongtoe, disclosed the plan in an interview shortly after defending his ministry’s 2026 budget estimates before the Governor’s Special Committee on Thursday.
According to the Commissioner, the proposed road projects are part of the administration’s broader effort to expand urban infrastructure, open up communities and improve connectivity across the state.
Dongtoe explained that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has a specific mandate to construct new roads, while rehabilitation of existing roads falls under the Ministry of Works and the Plateau State Road Maintenance Agency.
“We don’t rehabilitate, we build new roads. Rehabilitation is for the Ministry of Works and the Road Maintenance Agency,” he said.
He explained that the construction of new roads is also intended to realign streets with the emerging master plans of the state, particularly in the Jos-Bukuru metropolis and other urban centres.
According to him, proper road alignment is important for effective street naming, house numbering and orderly urban development.
One of the major road components contained in the ministry’s 2026 budget proposal is the construction of 6.5 kilometres of new roads in each Local Government headquarters across the state.
With 17 Local Government Areas, the proposed intervention amounts to approximately 110.5 kilometres of new road networks if implemented across all the LG headquarters.
Dongtoe said the initiative is designed not only to improve movement but also to make Local Government headquarters more attractive for economic activities and strengthen their potential for tourism and urban development.
The road programme forms part of the ministry’s wider planning strategy, which includes the development and review of master plans for Local Government headquarters and urban areas across Plateau.
The Commissioner acknowledged the enormous demand for roads from communities across the state.
He said the ministry was receiving requests from numerous communities seeking government intervention, noting that the scale of the demand makes it impossible to execute every project simultaneously.
“All of them are requesting that we come to their aid for their roads,” Dongtoe said.
He explained that the administration was adopting a phased approach to responding to the demands.
“Being a listening government, we would have loved to do everything at this time, but the possibility of that requires that we take them stage by stage, one after the other.”
The Commissioner disclosed that within just two days, he had attended to requests from about six communities seeking road interventions, illustrating the extent of the infrastructure needs confronting the ministry.
Another major component of the road programme is the Hasky Road project.
According to Dongtoe, the project has a total planned length of about 34 kilometres, with Phase One covering approximately 17 kilometres.
The government plans to complete the first phase and proceed with Phase Two, which will cover another 17 kilometres.
The project is expected to contribute to improved connectivity and open up communities along the corridor as the road network expands.
The ministry is also proposing new roads intended to help ease congestion within Jos city centre.
The Commissioner said the development of alternative road networks would form part of the broader urban planning process, helping to improve movement and provide access to areas that require further development.
The strategy is linked to the review of the Jos Master Plan and the need to ensure that new developments are supported by appropriate road infrastructure.
The proposed road interventions also include communities around Tudun Wada and the Recourse area.
The ministry is further considering the revival and completion of some abandoned road projects across the state.
For the Commissioner, returning to abandoned projects is important because infrastructure already initiated can still be completed and put to use rather than allowing previous investments to remain unproductive.
Dongtoe stressed that the ministry’s responsibility extends beyond simply constructing roads.
The proposed urban-development programme is also linked to proper planning, street realignment, street naming, house numbering and the preparation of master plans to guide the growth of communities.
The objective is to ensure that urban expansion is supported by infrastructure and carried out within an organised planning framework.
The scale of the demands is reflected in the Commissioner’s assessment of the ministry’s financial requirements.
He disclosed that the ministry recorded more than 100 per cent budget performance in 2025, exhausting its allocation and requiring a virement from the Ministry of Environment to complete critical projects.
He also said that even if the ministry received twice the amount proposed for 2026, it would still not be enough to meet all the infrastructure demands coming from communities.
“If we are given double of what we are proposing for 2026, it still will not be enough,” Dongtoe said.
The statement highlights the gap between the infrastructure needs across Plateau and the resources available to government.
Against this background, the proposed 6.5-kilometre road programme in each LGA headquarters represents one component of the administration’s broader attempt to expand infrastructure within available resources.
Rather than promising immediate intervention in every community, the Commissioner said the ministry would continue to prioritise projects and implement them progressively.
The approach, he explained, is to respond to communities “stage by stage, one after the other.”
For residents across Plateau, the significance of the programme will ultimately depend on implementation—how quickly proposed projects move from budget provisions to construction sites and, eventually, completed roads.
If implemented as proposed, the 6.5-kilometre intervention across the 17 Local Government headquarters would provide a substantial addition to Plateau’s urban road network, while the Hasky Road expansion, Jos decongestion routes, Tudun Wada and Recourse interventions, and the revival of abandoned projects would add further components to the state’s infrastructure agenda.
The proposed road programme therefore represents not only an infrastructure plan but also part of the government’s wider effort to reshape urban development across Plateau through new road networks, better planning and progressive investment in communities.
