The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola has said the federal government has secured a N16 billion Tax Credit Fund to construct the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
Fashola in a statement Wednesday by the ministry’s spokesperson, Blessing Lere-Adams, said the minister made the remark during a visit by the management of Punch newspaper.
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He noted that the government’s investment in road infrastructure was to reduce journey time and better travel experience and assured that the timely completion of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, the Second Niger Bridge and other critical road transport infrastructure.
While defending the government’s borrowing to finance infrastructure, he said President Buhari’s administration has paid over N700bn since 2015 as part of the debt left by previous administrations.
He said, “People are complaining about debt, where do you think money is going to come from to build the Badagry road? So that is why there was no progress on it in the past. But the reason why there has been appreciable progress now on that road is because we got a Tax Credit Fund for it.”
On the Lagos-Ota Road, Fashola said the contract sum was over N50bn, “but go and look in the budget and see how much is there (for the road), may be N200m,” adding that with the injection of N7bn this year, work progressed on the road.
By Faruk Umar
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