There is no budgetary provision for the construction of the
3,050 megawatts Mambilla hydropower project, the Federal Government declared on
Sunday.
The government said the claims that the loan negotiations
for the project had stalled since 2017 because of an attempt to utilise $600m
(N219bn) from the project for an alleged pet project not hitherto considered by
the Federal Executive Council were false and misleading.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola,
condemned reports suggesting that the project had been stalled, adding that the
China Exim Bank would only disburse money for specific projects such as the
Mambila power project after the conclusion of negotiations.
The minister, who spoke in Abuja, said, “Nothing is further
from the truth than the claim that the loan negotiations have stalled since
2017 because of an attempt to utilise $600m (equivalent of N219bn) from the
3,050MW hydropower project for a ‘pet project’ not hitherto considered by the
Federal Executive Council.
“There is currently no budgetary provision or cash provision
of $600m or the N219bn in any budget of the Federal Government for the Mambila
project. Therefore you cannot attempt to divert what does not exist.”
Fashola added, “For the avoidance of doubt, the China Exim
Bank disburse money to specific projects and on conclusion of negotiations, the
loan will be devoted to the construction of the Mambila Power Project, which
has been on the drawing board for close to 40 years before the advent of the
Buhari administration which is now working assiduously to get the project off
the ground.”
He said the allegation with regard to stalling the Mambilla
project was untrue and baseless.
The Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing also argued
in a statement that events and relevant facts would show that Fashola first
presented a memo on the Mambilla Power Project to the Federal Executive Council
in August 2017.
This, it said, was the first ever Federal Executive Council
approval given to the Mambilla project in favour of a Chinese Joint venture.
It stated that the minister had also accompanied the
President twice to China on trips that had the project as one of the headline
agenda.
The FMPWH stated that the minister in June 2018 attended,
alongside officials of the Federal Ministry of Finance, a meeting of the China
Exim Bank to negotiate the terms of the loan for the project further.
It stated that just last week, after the Federal Executive
Council meeting, Fashola briefed Nigerians about the approval of contracts for
surveyors to demarcate the areas for the project.
The ministry said these were the first contracts to start
preparatory work on the project after 40 years’ delay.
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