Lagos, only sub-national govt to get W-Bank’s $600m facility — FASHOLA

 

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has disclosed that Lagos is the only sub-national government in Africa that has benefited from the $600 million facility of the World Bank.

The governor added that the state was one of the three, of all the sub-national governments in the whole of Africa, while Brazil and in India are the only other two countries where their sub-national governments have benefited.

The governor stated that the first tranche of the Bond that was taken during first tenure has been paid, adding that the next one would be due around 2016 or 2017.

Fashola made the disclosure recently, during his inspection of the progress of work at the Iganmu Terminus of the Lagos Light Rail Mass Transit project.

He also laid emphasis on the loans obtained by his administration which was used in financing capital intensive projects like the Light rail, expansion of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway and Mile 12 – Ikorodu road.

According to him: “Of all the sub-national governments in the whole of Africa, we are the only beneficiary government. The only other two countries where their sub-nationals have benefited is in Brazil and in India.

“The first tranche of the Bond that was taken during first tenure has been paid, as the next one would fall due around 2016 or 2017. We are already making the provisions and the provision which will be there will be in excess of what will be needed to pay it.

“As a Federal Government, we can’t borrow money outside the country without them giving us the approval and that is all and even at that in the last two years, there were a lot of delays and frustration which led to my going to the House of Representatives to get them to pass this and even now, may be this week, the credit was finally made and so we are going to pay as a State not the Federal Government.

He added: “Nobody has done us any favour. The law just says that if any part of the country is going to borrow money, the country must approve, but the debt is our own and that is why they are publishing and we acknowledge it as our debt. We have never moved away or denied it.

“We have always said we took the money and this is part of where the money is going. Your economy works, people are taking value from government infrastructure initiative, from government borrowing funded by tax payers money, so anybody who is worried must either not know his economics or must have a voodoo intention to achieve.” He noted that what is currently being done is to cross the water to the final station in Marina “which is another five kilometres of heavy construction work, concrete and iron rods.”

Governor Fashola noted that with the contract and the financing in place, the only thing left was how much time to log on to on a day to day basis, adding the State Government has always come to the public when it was raising Bonds and were never conducted under the table.

- Culled from: http://www.vanguardngr.com