FCTA To Borrow N200bn For Road, Water Projects

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has said that it would borrow at least N200 billion to finance the provision of infrastructure such as roads and water projects across the nation’s capital.

The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, made this disclosure during the inauguration of a technical committee on the proposed FCT Issuance of SUKUK of N200 billion for the FCT 2022 Statutory Budget, in his office on Tuesday.

He said that the loan facility was needed to enable the FCTA to achieve its desired objective of rehabilitating and expanding some existing roads in the city and opening up more roads to arrest traffic gridlock on major roads in the capital city.

Bello stressed that alternative funding outside statutory funding to finance the completion of projects in the FCT was inevitable, decrying that troubling demographic changes consequently overstretched Abuja’s infrastructure and social amenities, while resources for development became more and more scarce and unavailable, this threatening the dreams of the capital’s founding fathers.

The minister while expressing gratitude to the Debt Management Office (DMO) and National Assembly for their continued support, stated that the proposed N150 billion loan would complement the N29 billion loan earlier received from the Federal Ministry of Finance through SUKUK funding.

Earlier, Director-General, DMO, Ms. Patience Oniha, while assuring the FCTA support in obtaining the loan facility, warned that it should be judiciously used for the purposes it was sought.

She stated that one could hardly drive around Nigeria without noticing the good benefits of Sukuk, adding that Sukuk has attracted a lot of goodwill and buy-in from Nigerians because they were witnessing work done with monies borrowed.