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HomeNewsAbuja-Kano,  Lagos-Ibadan roads, 2nd Niger Bridge to gulp N1tr

Abuja-Kano,  Lagos-Ibadan roads, 2nd Niger Bridge to gulp N1tr

The the Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria Limited (InfraCorp) will in 2022 begin the building of the Abuja-Kano road, Second Niger Bridge and Lagos-Ibadan Expressway at the cost over N1 trillion.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele who broke the news said InfraCorp has already provided N170 billion bridge fund out of the N1 trillion expected to fund three key infrastructure projects.

The N15 trillion InfraCorp is co-owned by the CBN, the African Finance Corporation and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority. 

The InfraCorp vehicle would enable the use of private and public capital to support infrastructure investment that will have a multiplier effect on growth across critical sectors.

Speaking at the end of the 2021 Bankers’ Committee retreat held in Lagos, Emefiele said the remaining part of the fund for the three projects will be soured majorly through local debts raised through the banks and pension assets.

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Emefiele said  fund will be utilized to support the Federal Government in building the transport infrastructure required to move agriculture products to processors, raw materials to factories, and finished goods to markets.

Speaking on the theme: ‘Building Resilience for Economic Growth’, he saidthe Bankers’ Committee appreciates the role of banks as an enabler and catalyst of real sector growth, through its advocacy, interventions and targeted support.

He said: “We will try to limit foreign borrowing for the projects, except where it is absolutely necessary to take foreign loans. The roads will be tolled. The Bankers’ Committee will in 2022 focus on infrastructure building as there is limited fiscal space and the committee through the banks will focus on infrastructure support”.

He explained that what is important, is that within the Nigerian financial market, there is a lot of idle funding, and can be well channeled, if packed the way Infracorp has been set up. We want local investors to put their funds in these projects.  

“We tend to help government and private sector to raise capital without endangering the balance sheet of the Federal Government of Nigeria. For the members of the Bankers’ Committee, it is an opportunity for us to begin to think about how to reset our economy, how to make our economy self sustaining,” he said.  

“We will do everything possible to reduce the rate of poverty in our country. Believing that if we are able to diversify the economy, believing that if we are able to reduce unemployment and poverty in the country, then we can beat our chest and begin to say that we  have a country that that is secured and reduce the level of insecurity in the country.” 

“And we viewed that doing this is upmost and that everything must be done and that banks themselves took up the fact that whereas we have done everything in the past to support the economy but we will still do more as agent’s that should catalysed the economy. 

Emefiele said the Federal Government has provided a kind of seed funding initially  to  jumpstart these projects, but the InfraCorp would now help to look at the viability of those projects.

“We will be working with the government  and all the agencies of government to see to it that these projects are completed and more  of it would come on stream. We know there  are so many of the projects and am sure when we begin to take stock of the size of the infrastructure projects we find out that they  run into hundreds of trillions of naira but  we have decided to start with just  with the first phase which is just N15 trillion,” he added. 

“By the time this is done, we will move on to another phase and  then the next phase. We are determined to see to  it that we give all the needed support to government and the private  sector that Nigeria must see development and growth  that other countries have seen. We will no longer drop the ball, we are determined to succeed,” he stated.

On how the funds will be sourced, he said: ” The projects will be funded through the banks and pension assets, with 50 per cent of the debts expected to be borrowed locally. We will try to limit foreign borrowing but where foreign currencies are needed will will provide them to ensure project continuity”.

Continuing, Emefiele said the roads will be tolled to repay the loans because the projects are financially viable. People will pay for it and enjoy good road infrastructure as that is the only way we can afford it.

The dedicated privately-managed infrastructure and industrial vehicle will harness opportunities for Nigeria’s infrastructure development by originating, structuring, executing and managing end-to-end bankable projects in that space.

The CBN and other promoters, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) recently appointed four asset managers active in the infrastructure sector to manage InfraCorp.

The asset managers are responsible for establishing a General partner/Asset Manager organization, develop the consolidated business plan and financial model for InfraCorp and its subsidiaries.

The InfraCorp vehicle was created to enable the use of private and public capital to support infrastructure investment that will have a multiplier effect on growth across critical sectors.

Emefiele said the  Bankers’ Committee Retreat is a milestone event in the calendar of the financial services sector providing a unique platform for the banking industry to collaborate and review banking system developments during the year and determine specific strategies to stimulate sustainable growth of Nigeria’s real sector for the coming years.  

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