By Ben Agande & Inalegwu Shaibu

ABUJA— PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, asked the Senate to approve his proposal for external borrowing of the sum of $4, 427, 91 billion for the year 2010.

The President stated in a letter to the Senate that the money represented the balance of the 2010 external borrowing plan submitted to the National Assembly in April this year.

He stated: “The borrowing plan was segmented for purposes of comprehension into three broad categories namely: projects that had been negotiated and those that were being appraised as well as the pipeline projects/programmes.

“The sum total for the negotiated projects stood at $1,854,71 billion and that of the appraised projects was $1,073,2 million; while $2, 415, 0 billion represented the sum of the pipelines projects. The three categories of project come to a total of $5, 242 billion.”

President Jonathan said the National Assembly had earlier approved the international development association component of the borrowing plan amounting to $915 million during the consideration of the 2010 budget leaving the balance of $939 million for negotiated projects; $1, 073 million for appraised projects and $2, 415 billion for pipelines projects.

He added: “The entire balance now remaining for National Assembly approval is $4, 427, 91 billion.”

While urging the Senate to expedite action on the bill, the President affirmed that the borrowing plan would have meaningful effect on the economic and infrastructural development of the country.