Servicing foreign loans on forex scarcity stressing LCC performance, says Official
The Lekki Concession Company (LCC), operators of the toll gates on Lekki Expressway in Lagos has raised alarm, saying the erosion of naira value against the dollar is impacting negatively in the efforts of the company to service foreign loans secured to develop the infrastructure.
In an exclusive interview weekend with a senior official who pleaded anonymity, the staff said “Due to the rising exchange, LCC now pay almost trice the amount we used to pay in monthly services of foreign loans”.
“LCC is still paying interest for the loans as we have not started paying the principal. “The depreciation of naira against dollar is raising our monthly debt service bill as forex bites harder.
The official also argued that the cost of maintenance has gone up including cost of diesel, spare parts, and others, but you know as we are now a government entity, we cannot not raise the price of the toll arbitrarily unless a process by the government is followed. .
“We are yet to begin to toll the remaining two plazas.
The source however, added that “Government who has acquired the business has helped to pay some of the bills on servicing the loan”.
