‘South East not left out in rail line projects’- Adeosun

Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun has confirmed that the South East region is captured in the rail line development programme of the Federal Government.

She was reacting to a motion moved by Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia State) that the South East corridor rail line was excluded in the request for approval of Federal Government 2016-2018 external borrowing rolling plan.

But speaking at a meeting of the Senate committee on Local and Foreign Debts on Tuesday, the Finance Minister said the country has a comprehensive rail way development programme for the entire country.

The minister explained that the loan was tied to a condition that Chinese Construction Firms would execute the contract.

She insisted that every zone in the country was properly covered in the rail line development programme of the government.

“Part of the condition attached to the Chinese EXIM Bank loan is that,  Chinese Construction Firm would be the one to execute railway contract”,  she said.

Adeosun noted that the country first sought a loan of $29.9 billion from the China Exim Bank which the Senate rejected.

She explained that the Senate advised that government should apply for the approval of the loan in piecemeal.

Last year,  the Senate unanimously threw out President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for external loan of $29.96 billion to execute key infrastructural projects across the country because the letter conveying it was not accompanied by a borrowing plan.

The Minister said that the advice informed the $5.81billion loan request before the National Assembly.

OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja