Agreement
The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) on Monday agreed to collaborate on improving infrastructure deficit in the country.
The Director-General, ICRC, Mr Chidi Izuwah and the Managing Director NSIA, Mr Uche Orji signed the agreement in Abuja.
“In this MOU, we are focused on the infrastructure financing framework which is around credit enhancement to make sure that the necessary polices are in place to enhance private sector infrastructure financing
“We are also working together to create a Public Private Partnership (PPP) Infrastructure Fund which will be quoted on the stock market.
“The fund will be very critical to enable us mobilise private capital from the capital market, which is the best way to finance infrastructure without relying on public funding,” he said.
Izuwah said that the two agencies would work together to create an Infrastructure Development and Monitoring Fund for financing the development of bankable projects.
Also, Orji said that the NSIA had plans not to only invest in the country, but to also attract additional private capital to develop infrastructure in the transport, healthcare, housing and education sectors.
“There are areas we are working on today that eventually will require private capital to come in.
“Through the Presidential Investment Development Fund, we are driving the investment on the 2nd Niger Bridge and the Abuja-Kano Highway.
“We recently launched a cancer healthcare unit at the Lagos Teaching Hospital and we have another two that we plan to launch next month.
“All of these projects will border on Public Private Partnership Investment, meaning we need to define a working scheme to make things happen faster,” he said.
