The Senate Tuesday set up an ad-hoc committee to urgently investigate the factors impeding the completion of the $18.5 billion Centenary City Project in Abuja over the last 10 years.
Specifically, the committee which is to be chaired by Deputy President of the Senate Jibrin Barau, is to take a thorough look at the original public private partnership (PPP) with a view to resolving all other issues that had stalled the project over the years.
The Red Chamber also called on the federal government to prioritize the completion of the Centenary City project.
These resolutions followed a motion, titled: “Urgent need to revive and complete the stalled Centenary City project, Abuja to realise its economic and development potential” by the Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Oyelola Ashiru (APC Kwara South) during plenary.
Senator Ashiru in the motion informed the Senate that Abuja Centenary Economic City project which commenced in 2014 through a public private partnership, PPP to develop a modern city in the mold of Dubai in the United Arab Emirate, UAE to commemorate the 100 years of Nigeria’s amalgamation. Celebration, is not in anyway, near the vision behind it.
He said: “The Abuja Centenary Economic City was to serve as potential economic hub, with plans to create over 150,000 construction jobs, 250,000 permanent well-paying jobs, residential accommodation for over 200,000 residents, and facilities to attract over 500,000 daily visitors, among others.
“The original estimated investment for the project was $18.5 billion United States Dollars as of 2014, equivalent to the size of Nigeria’s national budget at today’s exchange rate.
“The Centenary City was designated as a free trade zone under the Regulatory oversight of the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority, NEPZA, without prejudice to other statutory agencies like the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA; Abuja Investment Company, AIC, and the Abuja Infrastructure Investment Centre, AIIC.”
He pointed out that significant progress had been made on the similarly ambitious $6billion Eko Atlantic City development project in Lagos, that has a 25 kilometer square land reclamation project with varied completed residential towers, an eight-lane boulevard, marinas, water treatment facilities, and power infrastructure, among others.
He, however, expressed disappointment that the city is yet to be completed and unable to achieve its economic potential , calling on the Senate to review the original PPP agreement, come up with amendments for the smooth completion of the project within a defined timeframe.
In his contribution, Senator Isah Jibrin (APC Kogi East) pushed strongly that the project should be completely private sector-driven and called on the Ministry of Finance to source for credible investment banks across the globe to finance it.
Also, Senators Ali Ndume (APC Borno South) and Danjuma Goje (APC Gombe Central) supported the motion, but said the investigation should have been handled by the Senate Committee on FCT instead of an ad-hoc committee
