Bayelsa Assembly approves N40 billion loan for existing projects
…..says it will enhance speedy completion of projects
Bayelsa State House of Assembly has approved the request for the restructuring of the existing N40 billion loan for infrastructure and other developmental project by Governor Henry Seriake Dickson, the State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpor, said on Thursday.
He urged Bayelsans to disregard the falsehood being circulated by mischief makers, which is aimed at discrediting the government and cause crisis in the state.
The loan would be useful in the enhancement of speedy completion of ongoing projects in the three senatorial zones in the state such as the Sagbama/Ekeremor road, Isaac Boro road with street lights and Bayelsa International Airport.
Other uses include the Senate building inside the Niger Delta University (NDU), internal roads especially in Ogbia local government, the bridge leading to the Tourist Island, among others.
Ewhrudjakpor in an interview with journalists, said it was not a fresh loan as being speculated.
According to him, the loan is aimed at restructuring already existing loans from two to four years period.
He further clarified that the contractors, as contained in the provision will now be drawing from the bank the existing loan with the approval of the state government based on the milestone achieved.
The Commissioner said, “You know, we took a loan for the airport sometime ago, so what we are doing is that instead of paying the required two point something billion naira every month we have restructured it and so the time to pay the loan has been elongated.
“Rather than two years, we will now pay it in four years and it will be about N1billion naira every month. The other one will be given to our contractors. We don’t want to handle it ourselves because if we do, we will still spend it on other things. So we have given it to a particular bank to distribute to our contractors. So clearly it is not a fresh loan”.
