Infrastructure to Gulp 91% of Capital Allocation

The Federal Government has said that it has earmarked about 91 per cent of the capital expenditure, translating to about N502.32 billion, in the proposed 2009 appropriation bill for development of critical infrastructure across the country.
The government had proposed a capital allocation of N552 billion in the N2.67 trillion appropriation bill for 2009 fiscal year, which President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua is expected to present to the National Assembly next month.
Dropping this hint yesterday in Abuja at the Abuja Business and Investment Roundtable, Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Dr. Tanimu Yakubu, said Yar’Adua had given the greatest priority to infrastructure in the proposed budget because he believed that for the country to be competitive, she must reduce the cost of doing business by having good and efficient infrastructural system.
Yakubu noted that the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja will benefit from the investment in critical infrastructure.
Yakubu also disclosed that for the 2009 fiscal year, the Federal Government planned to commit about $1.5 billion into the production of domestic gas.
He pointed that gas processing plants are expected to be funded by the private sector, assuring that, regardless of what happens to the nation’s export of oil and gas, the Federal Government was committed to completing the projects.
Noting that, Nigeria ought to be a hub in petroleum products, he said, in the proposed 2009 budget, the government has planned for the expansion of Escravos pipelines and those across Umuahia, Ajaokuta, Kano and Niger Republic borders.
He added that, in the proposed budget, the government has made provision for sufficient allocations towards the deepening of the lower Niger as well as the rehabilitation of eastern and western rail lines in addition to that of Warri to Ajaokuta, which is expected to be completed in 12 months. All these, he pointed, was intended to reduce the burden on road transportation.
Speaking on the Seven Point Agenda of Yar’Adua led administration, Yakubu said, the administration didn’t stumble on the agenda, stating that, it was a “well-thought-out” set of solution to address the macro and micro-economic challenges in the country.
Lamenting that, the country’s problem had for long been lack of competitiveness owing to the discouraging high cost of doing business, he said, businesses have had to provide their own infrastructure.
He however stated that, “the Seven Point Agenda is response this dilemma.”
Earlier at the occasion, the Supervising Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Remi Babalola disclosed that the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) needed a minimum of $15 – that is, N1.8 trillion, to develop infrastructure in the FCT to keep it in tune with the dreams of its founding fathers.
Babalola said the FCTA was already working on a blue print to source for the needed funds from domestic and international investors in a Private-Public-Partnership (PPP), where the government would only provide the enabling environment.
The PPP, he said, was the best alternative among the available options of satisfying the FCTA’s quest for providing basic infrastructure in the FCT in consonance with the dictates of the Abuja Master Plan.
He however added that brilliant ideas can’t get anybody anywhere, if such ideas are not properly put across; adding that “we are more than ever committed to get such wonderful ideas across for the benefit of posterity.
“This Round Table is auspicious for the FCTA in its timing as the present administration of Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua is deepening the existing conducive environment for doing business in Nigeria.
“President Yar’Adua’s administration has achieved considerable success in this regard, especially the maintenance of social and political policies that promote democracy, peace, harmony and concord.”
Babalola assured that the FCTA was very passionate about the pursuit of the main tenets of good governance by observing the principle of rule of law, respect for human rights as well as curbing graft in all its ramifications.