The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday said it is financing the Lagos State blue line rail project with N110 billion under its Real Sector Support Facility (RSSF) Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement (DCRR) intervention fund.
Already, the CBN has provided N60 billion, out of which N45 billion has been disbursed and N50 billion will be made available in the second tranche.
The CBN director (development finance), Yusuf Philip Yila, made these known during a tour of the blue line rail project in Marina, Lagos, on Thursday.
The blue line rail project, which is currently under construction by the Lagos state government, through the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) is expected to be completed in the last quarter of 2022.
Yila, who came in company with the LAMATA team, said the CBN was at Marina to monitor and evaluate progress on the project.
He said: “I am quite impressed with what I see on the ground, LAMATA has taken us round and I can see the solid structure being put in place in Marina. We are confident based on what we have seen, the progress that has been made.
“The total amount we have made available for this project is N60 billion and we have disbursed N45 billion. There is another tranche of N50 billion too. The progress I have seen matches the disbursement that has been made so far. This is just one of the many projects under the DCRR.”
Yila noted that as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CBN has released the N1 trillion under the DCRR.
“So quite a lot, not only infrastructure, but you see mostly in agriculture and mining, a couple of cement factories, all accessed the interventions. So we do visit, we do monitoring and evaluation to ensure the funds were used for the purposes they are meant and to contribute to make our economy grow.
“We are funding not only the blue line but also providing some funding for the red line and five other lines that they plan to embark on. This will significantly contribute to ease of business, ease of moving people around and more confidence in the economy,” he said.
Abimbola Akinajo, the LAMATA managing director, received the CBN team on behalf of the state government.
She said, “The blue line is a rail line that goes from Okokomaiko to Marina. We are constructing the first operational phase of the blue line, which is actually from Mile2 to Marina. We have five stations that are going to be built within this phase. It will be Mile 2, Alaba, Iganmu, National theatre and Marina.”
She added that the four stations “are about 98 percent done”.
According to her, one of the major things in any project is funding and that the support the state has received from the CBN and the other three banks will ensure that it meets its target.
The other banks collaborating with the CBN to finance the project are Access Bank, Sterling Bank and Fidelity Bank.
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