FG To Improve Infrastructure, Boost Mining Activities, Says Fayemi

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi has said the ministrys 2016 budget will improve infrastructure so as to boost the mining sector.Fayemi said this at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum on Thursday in Abuja.He said that the Federal Ministry of Transportation also had mining-related projects in its 2016 budget.The budget of the ministry is N16 billion, but the focus of this years is infrastructure.And when you are talking about infrastructure in my sector I also want to remind you that if you look at the budget of Ministry of Transportation, you will find eight billion naira for the Itakpe -Ajokuta -Warri rail project.That is a mining project; it is a transportation project, but that railway development is to ensure that the materials from Ajaokuta and Itakpe (are) moved seamlessly through the Warri Port.So you could see it has a double edge.Fayemi said mining would not succeed without infrastructure, adding that some other ministries still had mining project which would go a long way to boost mining.According to him, mining cannot be funded by the government alone because it is a private sector driven agenda.He said he met with the Central Bank of Nigeria directors to request for the type of intervention fund that existed in the Ministry of Agriculture.We have a vision of a billion dollars intervention fund in mining largely raised from the private sector to support players in the sector that are ready to do serious mining. (NAN)The post FG To Improve Infrastructure, Boost Mining Activities, Says Fayemi appeared first on Nigerian News from Leadership News.
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