The Federal Government on Tuesday disclosed that the $500 million Chinese facility for the remodelling of the nation’s airport has not be accessed since there is no budgetary provision for it in the 2014 Appropriation Act.
To this extent, the Ministry of Aviation has formally requested the Debt Management Office (DMO) to reschedule the payment of the counterpart funding.
Samuel Ortom, supervising Minister of Aviation gave the hint while addressing chairman and members of House Committee on Aviation during an interactive session with the Ministry’s management team.
He explained that the ministry was fully involved in the negotiation of the $500 million Chinese facility adding that the money will be accessed directly from the Chinese Exim bank when the counterpart funding is ready.
The Minister who dismissed media report on the alleged N174.7 billion missing fund, however noted that Ministerial Committee set up when he resumed duty, was assigned to verify the actual debt liabilities of the Ministry.
While responding to questions on the whereabouts of the N255 million bullet-proof cars allegedly bought by the ex-minister, Stella Oduah, the supervising Minister disclosed that the decision to return the cars as directed by the Committee will be carried out after due consultation with Mr President.
Speaking earlier, members of the House of Representatives expressed concern over the poor implementation of some remodelling projects at various airports.
Nkiru Onyejeocha, convener of the meeting, decried the high indebtedness resulting from the remodeling of the existing airports as well as poor implementation of construction of new terminals in Abuja and Lagos airports.
She said “The ministry of Aviation has not convincingly shown with verifiable data and evidence the exact origin and status of its debt profile of N174.7 billion. The ministry has also not clearly mapped out strategies for the repayment of loans and debts.
“The supervising minister of aviation and the permanent secretary do not seem to be well acquainted with the procedure, process and condition under which, the Chinese loan and the Debt Management Office (DMO) loan were facilitated by the ministry of finance for the ministry of aviation neither do they seem to know how the loan is being disbursed.
“While the airport remodeling programmes and.projects seem laudable, they are throwing the sector into high indebtedness with long term negative economic consequences; suffice to say that so many projects awarded since 2011 for the different phases are yet to be completed while many others, especially fpr phase III are yet to take off.
“The conditions for the construction of new international terminals in Abuja and Lagos airports seem questionable. There are obvious indications that the ministry of aviation and its development partners are not complying with the original bill of quantities upon which the contracts were awarded. The sizes of the terminals, number of avio-bridges and fingers have been significantly altered while the contact sums remains the same.”
She also alleged that the contractor handling the construction of Hajj terminal did a substandard and unacceptable job, stressing that “till date, air conditioners and cooling systems are yet to be installed; lightening in the lounge is scanty causing much darkness; the tiles used for the floor and the paint used for the walls are of substandard qualities.”
The lawmakers who urged the Supervising Minister to be wary of sycophants within the system, stressed the need for transparency and accountability in the utilization of public funds.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja
