Work on Ibadan-Kano, Port Harcourt-Maiduguri to start soon 

10 Apr Work on Ibadan-Kano, Port Harcourt-Maiduguri to start soon 

The Federal Government has said that work will soon begin on some selected rail projects for which contracts have been awarded.

Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who announced that at the annual ministerial briefing on programmes, projects and activities of the Federal Ministry of Transportation and its agencies, listed some of the rail projects to include the Ibadan-Kano, Port Harcourt Maiduguri, Kano-Maradi and Lagos-Calabar rail lines.

He was joined at the briefing by Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and Minister of State for Transportation, Gbemisola Saraki.

He said: “We have awarded the following contracts and we are about to start and we have even tried to solve the financial problems. This is because we have the problem of having to hire consulting engineers.

“The ones we are about to start are Ibadan to Kano, that we are waiting for funds from China.

“We are about to start Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, we are waiting for the cabinet to approve consulting shares. We are also to start the Kano-Maradi and Lagos to Calabar.”

He added: “But one thing that is unique about these contracts is that the President early enough directed that all rail lines must stagnate at the sea ports.

“That is why there may be a bit of adjustment in the pricing of Kano-Maradi because we have to adjust it to link up to Kano-Lagos so that it can terminate at Lagos seaport.”

Giving a update on current projects, Amaechi said the 185.5km Lagos-Ibadan double standard gauge line with extension to Apapa seaport was nearing completion while the 186km Abuja-Kaduna and 302km Warri-Itakpe standard guage lines had been completed and were functional.