Rivers State Governor, Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi said that he would soon approach the state House of Assembly for approval to obtain a loan of N100 billion from a new generation financial institution, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB).
The governor, a few weeks ago , got the approval of the state legislature to access a N250 billion bond from Nigeria’s capital market, to enable the state government complete some on-going projects.
Amaechi, who spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt, during an interactive session with professional organisations in the state said that the N100 billion loan would also be plunged into on-going projects in the state.
He enumerated some of the on-going projects to include the new state University of Science and Technology project, whose first phase would cost the sum of N150 billion, the mono-rail project and model primary and secondary schools as well as network of urban and rural roads in the state.
The governor disclosed that the state government intended to refund the loan to the new generation bank from its internally generated revenue (IGR) even as he pointed out that the state would pay back the loan on a monthly instalment of N4.5 billion.
He promised to ensure that all loans and bonds collected were refunded before the expiration of his tenure in 2015.
Amaechi regretted that his administration has done little in the area of secondary health care provision and promised that efforts were on to fully equip two secondary health institutions in the state in order to reduce the pressure on the Braithwaite Memorial Hospital (BMH) in Port Harcourt.
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