New Houses For Senate President, House Speaker At N3B

SENATE PRESIDENT DAVID MARK.

ABUJA, January 30, (THEWILL) - The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has proposed to spend the sum of N1.5 billion on the construction of the new official residences for National Assembly presiding officers just as it has proposed N1 billion for the completion of the official residence of the Vice President.

The total cost for the construction of the new residences for the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives and their deputies was put at N3.044 billion.

Minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed who disclosed this Monday at a budget defence session with the House of Representatives committee on FCT said while N324 million was appropriated in 2011 for the new residences, only N146 million had been expended leaving a balance of N178 million explaining that for 2012, N1.5 billion would be required for the project.

According to Senator Mohammed, the National Assembly presiding officers that are to benefit from the new residences are the Senate President and his deputy as well as the Speaker of the House and his deputy.

For the Vice President’s residence, the minister said the sum of N2.452 billion is required to complete the project, which is 66. 8 percent completed.

The decision to build new official accommodation for the presiding officers is the need to guarantee maximum security for the affected officers, he said.

The minister explained that the FCT proposed to spend a total of N401.236 billion in the 2012 fiscal year “however due to other government competing fiscal challenges, a ceiling of N49.2 billion was given to the FCT which was further reviewed to N46 billion.”

He further explained that the shortfall in the budget would be taken care of through the private sector initiatives.

In a related development, the FCT administration is to secure a loan of $500 million from the Chinese-Exim Bank for the completion of the Abuja light rail project, which is at 20-25 percent completion. The minister said, “it is my hope that with the efforts being put in place to secure the $500 million Chinese-Exim bank loan the project would be completed in 2014 or even earlier than this.”

Chairman of the House FCT Committee, Hon. Emmanuel Jime (PDP, Benue) in response directed the minister to furnish the House with details of the proposed budget particularly the construction of the new houses for National Assembly presiding officers.