The Federal Government has earmarked $400 million in the 2013 budget to fast track the Trans-Saharan Gas Project. The Acting Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Dr Ghaji Bello, made the disclosure yesterday in Abuja.

He spoke at the opening of a two-day technical workshop on Presidential Infrastructure Championship Initiative (PICI). Bello said the project would foster and transform the economy of African countries and impact on the lives of the citizens.

The workshop organised by The New Partnership For Africa`s Development (NEPAD) has as its theme, “PICI: A Panacea for Sustainable Growth and Development for Africa”.

“As a sign of its commitment, the Nigerian Government has made a provision of $400 million in the 2013 budget in order to move the project up to the next stage. “We are not just doing project for the sake of doing project. We are doing it to advance development, progress and to impact on the lives of the citizens of our continent,” he said.

He stated that three countries, Nigeria, Niger Republic and Algeria, were involved in the project, adding that the project would also involve the running of gas pipelines from Calabar to Niger Republic into Algeria and then to Spain.

He said the project was critical to the economic transformation of the countries adding that “Africa needs to drive its development”.

Bello, however, urged African countries to make infrastructure a priority, “until the challenge is tackled the trajectory of Africa’s growth will remain slow”.

In his remarks, the Chief Executive Officer, NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), South Africa, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, said PICI was a continental infrastructure aimed to develop the continent and would drive regional development for the next 27 years (up till 2040).

PICI is a project to act as a catalyst for the rapid and sustainable development of the region and to spur continental infrastructure development as initiated in 2011.

The Trans-Saharan gas pipeline, which is also known as NIGAL pipeline and Trans-African gas pipeline, is planned to transfer natural gas from Nigeria to Algeria and to Spain. Seen as an opportunity to diversify the European Union’s gas supplies, the idea of the Trans-Saharan pipeline was first proposed in the 1970s.

On January 14, 2002, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Algeria national oil and gas company (Sonatrach), signed a memorandum of understanding for preparations of the project.

The Minister of State for Works, Amb Bashir Yuguda, has restated Federal Government’s commitment to the actualisation of the Trans-Saharan Road Projects (TRP) to enhance socio-economic activities among the states. He gave the assurance yesterday in Abuja when he received a delegation from the Algerian Embassy, led by the Secretary General of Trans-Saharan Road Liaison Committee, Mr Ayadi Mohammed.

Yuguda said that Nigeria was aware of the value of the road which passes through six nations. “Trans-Saharan Highway with a total length of 4,680 kilometre traverses six countries in the Sub-Saharan region, namely Nigeria, Niger Republic, Chad, Mali, Algeria and Tunisia. “The main axis of the project starts from Lagos on the West Atlantic Coast and terminates at Algiers on the Mediterranean Coast of North Africa.

“The construction of the roads would further promote trade, unity and facilitate easy transportation of Goods and services across the nations,” he said.

Yuguda assured the team of the Federal Government’s support to the nation for the actualisation of the road. He also said that Government had done feasibility studies on the road and had put into consideration the concessions for the trans-Saharan roads to enhance speedy completion.