FG APPEALS FOR PRIVATE INVESTMENT TO COMPLETE MILLENNIUM TOWER AND CULTURAL CENTER

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has called on private investors to collaborate with the federal government to invest about $400million required to complete the millennium tower and cultural center under construction in the central area of Abuja.

The minister who made the appeal today during his inspection of the project accompanied by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Mallam Musa Bello stated that they were there to showcase the project for private sector collaboration and investment

He said that the $400million needed to complete the project would be sourced from the private sector. 

In his words, “this is the only part of the world where every infrastructure is built by government. In other parts of the world where you have this kind of project, it is done in collaboration with the government and the private sector”.

“My appeal, therefore, is to the private sector , particularly lovers of arts and recreation to join hands with the Federal Government to complete the project, all the facilities have to do with content and will generate a lot of revenue for whoever has the courage to partner with us” he said.

The project which has reached 40 per cent completion was conceived in 2005 and it is expected to upon completion, finance itself through the revenues generated from the running of all the commercial activities in the complex.

The gigantic structure is a multifunctional edifice with facilities for cultural exposition, tourism, socialisation, recreation, hospitality and commercial activities. 

It has cultural center with museums, five star hotel, an over one thousand capacity auditorium, conference rooms, exhibition halls, shops, sports center and a large capacity basement car park.

Commending the vision of the past leaders who initiated the project, he said that when it is completed, it will be able to compete favourably with the most audacious national monuments across the globe.

Similarly, the FCT minister whose office is in charge of the project said that the inspection was to identify other sources of funding because there are no sufficient resources from budgetary allocation to complete it.

He explained that over the past years, the FCT Administration identified a number of capital projects within the city and has spent a lot of resources to complete them in phases.

“We started by tackling the road networks, the rail system and now water, the millenium tower and cultural center is a massive project that will require a lot of funding” He said.