• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

FG insists over N60bn Lagos-Calabar railway project sent to NASS for vetting

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The Federal government has debunked the claim by the National Assembly that it never had the over N60 earmarked for Lagos-Calabar railway project in the 2016 budget sent to it by the Executive.

The minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma in a statement signed by his media adviser, Akpandem James stated that just like the budget of other ministries, the amended budget of the Ministry of Transportation, which contained the contentious railway projects was sent to the relevant committees of the National Assembly.

“The amended Ministry of Transportation budget was accepted by the relevant committees and that was the version defended by the Minister of Transportation and his team. The statement read.

The Minister informed that the executive arm is desirous of signing the budget into law adding that details of the budget are still being examined.

“… process is still on-going and no statement has been issued by the Executive on the matter, apart from the one by the Honourable Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohamnmed, to confirm that details of the budget are being examined.

He recalled that the Budget Office made a number of errors in the initial proposals of a number of ministries saying “these errors were all corrected by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning just as he emphasised that the N60billion provided in the budget for the Lagos – Kano and Calabar – Lagos rail lines were key to the Strategic Implementation Plan of the government.

“It must be emphasized that the two rail projects are part of those for which the President is currently negotiating funding with the Chinese government”. The minister said.