MINISTER of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, says the Federal Government has paid $150 million out of the $2 billion loan taken from China for railway projects in the country.
Speaking yesterday, Amaechi said the $150 million represents 7.5 percent of the entire loan.
The minister said contrary to claims by the opposition the federal government only took loans from China for the Kaduna-Abuja and the Lagos-Ibadan railways.
He stressed that the government has commenced the repayment of loan for the Kaduna-Abuja rail project.
“The right ministry to respond to the question on repayment is the Ministry of Finance. They borrowed and repaid. But I think the last I heard about it, it was between a $100m to $150m repayment that we have done so far in the Kaduna-Abuja.
“Don’t forget that we have not borrowed any money yet, the only money we borrowed is in the Kaduna-Abuja and Lagos-Ibadan. Lagos-Ibadan, what we borrowed is about $1.5bn though it has not matured for repayment, what has matured for repayment is the Kaduna-Abuja which is being repaid.
“Nigerians think we borrow so much but the only projects we have borrowed so far is the Kaduna-Abuja where we borrowed $500m and the Lagos-Ibadan where we borrowed $1.5bn. So, that brings the total loan exposure for us in the Ministry of Transport to about $2bn as far as railway is concerned.”
