The Federal Government said on Monday it
had requested funding support from SuKuk bond through the Debt Management
Office and other multilateral sources to enable it finance the Calabar-Itu road
project.
The Special Adviser to the President, Major
General Mohammadu Buhari (retd.), on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang,
stated this while fielding questions from newsmen.
He said he had written to the Ministry of
Finance and the Ministry of Works and Housing to fund the project with loan
from the SuKuk bond.
“Right now, we are looking at multilateral
sources of funding the road. I have written and I am requesting funding support
from the ministries, from the SuKuk bond through the Debt Management Office,
the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of works and Housing to help the road
with loan from the SuKuk bond.
“SuKuk bond is one of the avenues of
funding major projects and it is from there that N100bn was raised to finance
Abuja-Lokoja road project and some other projects in the country. So, I have
requested funding from that window.”
He said it became necessary because the
contractor, Julius Berger, had pulled out of site since June following
insufficient funding.
Enang explained that Buhari in the 2020
budget had projected N2.2bn for the road project but that by the time it was
approved by the National Assembly it was reduced from N2.2bn to N1.1bn.
According to him, when the contractor saw
that even the certificate they generated was more than what is in the budget,
they decided to pull off site.
“As of today, they (Julius Berger) pulled
out of the site in June because it was on the 27th of May that the President
signed the 2020 budget.
“They had no choice because they had their
workers to pay, equipment to service and materials to buy, so they pulled out
of the site,” Enang said.