THE Acting Director-General of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr Chidi Izuwa, on Sunday, disclosed that the World Bank was waiting for the success of the Katampe District Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) engineering infrastructure project as a model which it could spread round the world.
According to him, “it is because of the uniqueness of Katampe PPP project, especially the land value capture that the World Bank is still waiting for the success of the project as a model which it can spread to the world.”
He made this known 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 DG stated that the PPP project was the only option for meeting the infrastructure deficit in the territory given that only 11 of the 72 districts in the FCT has full infrastructure.
Izuwa noted that FCT hosts one of the most successful PPP projects in Nigeria, as demonstrated by the Garki Hospital PPP initiative which was one of its kinds, as it involved the health sector, adding that if FCT could make PPP work, it would be easy for the states of the Federation to copy.
In his keynote address, the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello said “for us at the FCT administration, this is a project we want to succeed 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 a very laudable project faced excruciating problems because of poor packaging and implementation.
“Already we are talking of Phase five of the city, whereas, except for Phase one, there has been no significant development of infrastructure in Phases 2, 3 and, indeed, Phase 4.”
The minister used the occasion to thank all the partnering ministries and agencies from where the 17-member Committee was constituted for agreeing to participate in the implementation committee. They include the Ministries of Finance, Justice, Power, and Works and Housing, the Accountant-General’s Office as well as the ICRC.
He paid special tribute to Committee Chairman Engineer Babagana Zanna for accepting to come back to serve in spite of the very strenuous work he did earlier as Chairman of the Audit Committee.
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