…Approves additional N28bn infrastructures for Wasa, Abuja
…Pledges December 2022 deadline for Port Harcourt refinery resumption perations — Sylva
By Ariemu Ogaga
The Federal Executive Council(FEC) on Wednesday approved the sum of N2.044 billion for the construction of internal roads and facilities at the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Gas Hub in Bayelsa State.
At the same time, the council okayed N28.1 billion for the augmentation of road and infrastructural projects in the Wasa District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Also, Nigeria’s Petroleum refining will soon receive a boost as the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva reiterated that Portharcourt refinery will resume operations by the end of December this year.
Sylva, speaking with journalists after a meeting in Abuja, disclosed that the project will further boost economic development in the Niger Delta region and indeed Nigeria.
Sylva spoke while briefing journalists after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday.
Giving an update on the state of the ongoing repairs at the country’s refineries, He said the old Port Harcourt refinery with a 60,000 barrels-per-day capacity, would be functional by the end of 2022.
He further added that intense works are also progressing on the Warri and Kaduna refineries.
“The rehabilitation of the refineries is ongoing. As we said earlier, the old refinery in Port Harcourt, which is about 60,000 barrels per day capacity, will be functional by December and, of course, we still have some time in the contracting time to conclude the rest of the Port Harcourt refineries,” the Minister said.
“Works in the Kaduna and Warri refineries are also progressing very well. We will soon be embarking on an inspection visit and some of you journalists will be will be able to go with us to ascertain for yourselves what the extent of work is.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Mallam Mohammed Bello, told journalists that the N28 billion augmentation project was a ripple effect of inflation, which has overtaken the initial approval of N56 billion for the Wasa district projects.
“The initial contract for that project was awarded in 2014 at the sum of N56 billion but as time went by and due to inflation and some other factors, we had to vary the contract and the price to reflect current realities and that is the reason why the augmentation request was presented to council and council approved,” he said.
Bello said the total project sum was N85 billion with a completion period of 42 months.