NSIA invests N100bn on 3 priority road projects

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), at the weekend said it has so far invested about N100billion on the ongoing construction and rehabilitation of three priority roads in the country.

The affected roads according to the Authority include the Lagos -Ibadan Expressway, the Abuja Kano Road and the 2nd Niger Bridge. The investment was in addition to the $11million spent on the Lagos University Cancer Care Centre which is expected to help the country stem the growing incidence of overseas medical tourism.

The agency said over 70 percent of the pilling works have been completed on the 2nd Niger Bridge project due for delivery in 2022.

Speaking at an interactive session with newsmen in Lagos, Managing Director of the agency, Mr. Uche Orji, said about N50billion and N30billion respectively have so far been earmarked for the upgrade of the two critical infrastructure facilities in an effort to improve movement of goods and people across the country.

According to him, while the Lagos-Ibadan expressway would be ready in 2022, the Abuja-Kano expressway is billed for completion in 2021.

Orji explained that within the last 12 months, the agency had committed and deployed over N100 billion across the three priority road projects under the PIDF, even as it is also commencing due diligence on the Mambilla Power Project.

Said he “We have introduced gas industrialisation as a new focus sector. Within our pipeline are Basic Chemicals Investment with OCP, an off-shoot of the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative is a development of a basic chemicals platform in conjunction with OCP of Morocco to produce Ammonia for off-take by OCP.

On Gas flare reduction project, he said NSIA was currently undertaking due diligence on the project, adding that for the rest of this year it would continue to focus on executing Infrastructure Investment strategy in core focus areas of Power, Toll Roads, Agriculture, Healthcare and most recently gas industrialisation.

The NSIA boss also said the agency also invested about $11million for the construction of an ultramodern LUTH Cancer Centre in Lagos, while two diagnostics centres in Kano and Umuahia are expected to come on stream soon. He said the three health facilities would reduce the amount of foreign exchange that Nigerians spend yearly on medical tourism to Europe and India.

Meanwhile, Orji said NSIA in collaboration with private sector investors are already in talks for the construction of $200million Centre for Advanced Medicine in Idi Araba, Lagos to further create opportunities for Nigerian professionals in the field of medical to practice their trade and stem the perversive brain drain in the sector.

On prospects for current year, he said that 2019 started off on a challenging manner with weak performances across actively managed portfolios, due to ongoing trade disputes and political instability in key markets, stressing that these are expected to spike further volatility in the global markets.

He expressed optimism that NSIA asset allocation strategy will withstand downside risks and optimize market gains.

Credit: Sun News