Jonathan charges ICRC on second Niger Bridge, railways

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has charged the Governing Board of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to make  the actualisation of construction of second Niger bridge priority.

He also wants a fast track  the concession of railway lines in the country as well as the projects slated for implementation through Public Private Partnership (PPP).

He gave the charge on Tuesday, at the Presidential Villa, while inaugurating the Board headed by former Senate President, Ken Nnamani.

Also inaugurated was the Governing Board of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) headed by Mr Mohammed Haruna.

Performing the ceremony on behalf of the President, Vice-President Namadi Sambo directed the ICRC Board to move swiftly to ensure that the proposed 19 PPP projects, which included the construction of the second Niger Bridge, the development of deep sea ports and concession of the railway lines, achieved seamless financial closure as soon as possible.

He commended the pioneer Board led by former Head of Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan, for making notable contributions in furtherance of its mandate, including the drafting of the National Policy on Public Private Partnership (PPP), which was subsequently approved by the

Federal Executive Council in April 2009.
'Without doubt, this new Board has daunting responsibility to build on these achievements, and to deliver expeditiously on many Public Private

Partnership (PPP) projects,' Sambo said.
He stressed the importance the Commission which he said necessitated the appointment a former senate president as Chairman and six other notable Nigerians, from each of the geo-political zones of the country.