Teddy Oscar, Abuja
The Senate on Monday promised to ensure adequate utilisation of the $500 million Chinese loan the Federal Government collected to complete the ongoing projects in the nation’s airports and vowed to resist any attempt that would undermine the revolution in the aviation sector.
This assurance was given by the chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Hope Uzodimma, when the committee met with the Federal Ministry of Aviation and its relevant stakeholders.
Uzodimma, who explained that the loan was made available to the ministry for proper execution and completion of airport terminals, disclosed that the counterpart funding of $100 million from the government had been made available so that the $500 million loan would be effective for project execution.
According to him, the ministry has a seven year pay back plan for the loan and was expected to generate the money once the airports are functional, adding that payment plan starts July this year.
The loan, according to him, would close the funding gap towards the completion of ongoing projects.
“The committee will ensure the projects are executed according to plans so that at the end, Nigerians will have value for their money,” he said.
The airport terminals are in Port Harcourt, Kano, Lagos and Abuja.
