President Muhammadu Buhari has
approved that negotiation should be carried out for 15 billion dollars loan for
the completion of work on the Port Harcourt – Maiduguri rail project.
Minister of Transportation,
Rotimi Amaechi, made this known when he briefed State House correspondents
after a closed door meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa,
Abuja, on Tuesday.
According to him, Buhari has also
given the approval for negotiations of funds for the execution of Lagos –
Calabar rail project to ensure its speedy completion.
“Don’t forget that the
Lagos-Calabar project is yet to start because of funds; the Port Harcourt –
Maiduguri is yet to start because of funds, but the President has approved that
we negotiate for funds.
“We are almost concluding
negotiations for the Port Harcourt – Maiduguri. We are looking at the cost – is
in the neighbourhood of between 14 billion and 15 billion dollars.’’
He disclosed that laying of
tracks on the Lagos-Ibadan route would commence next month, and expressed the
hope that the project would provide a lot of job opportunities to Nigerians.
“If the rain doesn’t start early
we will start laying tracks on the Lagos-Ibadan route in April and hopefully we
believe we can complete it in December or January and open it up for passengers
and business and we expect about 6, 000,000 tons of cargo out of the 30,000,000
tons of cargo that we have between Lagos and Kano.
“In terms of job creation, you
can be rest assured that it will be in thousands,” he said.
On Itakpe – Warri rail project,
Ameachi said the project was being reconstructed and expressed the hope that it
would be inaugurated by August.
He said: “The tracks were already
there but they were vandalised so we are rebuilding those tracks and then
building new stations.
“We are also reconstructing a
yard that was abandoned.
“All things being equal, the
place should be ready soon, we gave them May as completion period but let’s say
by August we should be commissioning.’’
The Minister reassured that
adequate security had been taken to guarantee safety of passengers aboard rail
transportation in the country.
“There are policemen in all the
coaches that ply our routes. So if the passengers are attacked by armed
robbers, they will report while they take action,” he said.
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