(Adds further details, background)
By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA, April 4 (Reuters) - Nigeria's Senate has approved
China Development Bank as new financier for the country's
Kaduna-to-Kano rail project at a cost of $973 million, after
another Chinese lender withdrew from the project in 2020,
lawmakers said on Tuesday.
Parliament had in 2020 approved China's Exim Bank as
financier for the rail project, which was lumped in with the
government's external borrowing plan of $22.8 billion, before
the bank withdrew.
Nigeria's lower house of parliament has also approved the
new financier, which will grant a 15-year loan to the rail
project at an interest rate of 2.7%.
President Muhammadu Buhari made upgrading Nigeria's
transport network and improving outdated power grids the pillar
of his administration, with a view to boosting agriculture and
other non-oil industries to cut dependence on dwindling crude
revenues. But funding has been a major constraint.
Nigeria's parliament has approved several billions of
dollars in project-tied loans from Chinese and other
international lenders but funds have yet to materialize.
In 2022, Nigeria approached Standard Chartered Bank for a loan to fund the Kano-to-Maradi line, which will connect
northern states Kano, Jigawa and Katsina, after delays from
Chinese lenders. But the government has now turned back to China
for funding.
Nigeria's poor transport and power networks have stymied
economic growth for decades, holding back the distribution of
wealth in Africa's biggest economy, where 40% of people live
below the national poverty line.
Buhari will leave office in May after handing over to
president-elect Bola Tinubu, who has promised to tackle a litany
of problems, including double-digit inflation and
industrial-scale oil theft that has hampered an economy trying
to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh
Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha;
Editing by Alexander Smith and Bill Berkrot)
Reuters Messaging: chijioke.ohuocha.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))
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