Government revisits concession of N61 billion Katampe project

• As Minister promises to meet funding obligations

The Federal Government said it has mobilised more funding for the speedy completion of the abandoned N61billion Katampe Infrastructure project, which was concessioned under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement between the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the World Bank, and a consortium of engineering services firms.

The Project, which started in 2010, was expected to be completed in three years but is currently only 20 per cent gone due to lack of adequate funding, a situation that led to its abandonment.

The FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello, said: “For us at the FCT Administration, this is a project we will ensure it succeeds simply because it will open the way for us to be able to replicate it in similar projects within the city.”

He expressed dismay that such a very laudable project faced excruciating problems because of poor packaging and implementation, adding that the Administration has taken into account the fact that the practice of developing the city based on budgetary allocations is no longer sustainable, because the funds are not there.

Bello spoke on Monday, in Abuja, in a remark at the inauguration of the Inter-Ministerial Implementation Committee on the Report of the Audit of the Structure and Financing of the PPP Project for the Development of Engineering Infrastructure at Katampe District, Phase 2, Abuja.

The Committee has as its Chairman, Babagana Zanna, with its terms of reference to include renegotiation of the structure, scope and financing of the project to ensure compliance with the PPP principles; ensuring accountability, fairness and value for money among others.

“Already we are talking of Phase 5 of the city, whereas, except for Phase 1, there has been no significant development of infrastructure in Phases 2, 3 and, indeed, Phase 4,” Zanna said.

Earlier, the Acting Director-General Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Chidi Izuwa, assured that the World Bank is very keen and has described the success of the Katampe District PPP engineering infrastructure project as a model capable of spreading round the world.

Izuwa said the PPP project is the only option for meeting the infrastructure deficit in the FCT given that only 11 of the 72 districts in the FCT have full infrastructure.He commended the FCT for the success recorded at the Garki Hospital PPP initiative, which is one of its kind, as it involves the health sector.