THE Federal Government has assured that adequate financial arrangement has been put in place to ensure that the reconstruction work on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is completed on schedule.
It disclosed that the project was designed to be executed under private sector led-finance scheme and infrastructure finance facility, with the Federal Government providing 30 per cent of the project cost, amounting to N50 billion.
The other 70 per cent of the cost would be provided by investors and financiers to the project.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Director of Information and Head of Press and Public Relations of the Federal Ministry of Works, Bisi Agbonhin.
The statement was a reaction to a report published in the media, which alleged that cash crunch was threatening the plan to rebuild the road and that government was already considering a fresh concession to investors, to make the N167 billion project a reality.
According to the report, in the proposed public-private partnership (PPP), the government targeted to collaborate with investors, the infrastructure bank, Julius Berger Plc and Reynolds Construction Company (RCC), while about N23 million was voted in the 2014 budget for the hiring of consultants on the scheme.
But in debunking the allegation, Mr Agbonhin noted that the financing arrangement of the government would enable the completion of the project on time and on budget.
He equally noted that contrary to the misinformation that the Federal Government voted N23 million in the 2014 budget for hiring the services of consultants on PPP scheme for the project, the government had made a total provision for the sum of N25 billion as its counterpart funding in the 2014 budget, with a view to providing the balance of N25 billion in the 2015 budget.
“In the report, grave allegations were raised maliciously indicting the Federal Government on the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The insinuations are malicious, untrue and unfounded,” the statement read.