By Christel Odili
More than three decades after the commencement of construction on a 276-kilometre standard gauge rail line linking Warri in Delta State to Ajaokuta, Kogi State,
train operation will begin soon. the Minister for Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi has said.
Amaechi disclosed this while speaking with journalists on tour of the the inspection tour of the Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri rail line, he noted that it was heart-warming that the standard gauge rail line would finally come alive as part of efforts of the Federal Government to deliver functional and modern rail sytem.
He noted that, so far the percentage of work done on the facility is between 70 to 80 per cent complete, stating that the job is meant to be completed in 2019.
According to him, “we are compelling them (the contractors) and because we are pushing, they are working day and night to have it done. If it is time frame, they are well ahead of schedule. It is meant to be completed in 2019 and what we are doing here is what we are doing in Lagos-Ibadan and that project is actually a three-year contract.”
“Just like this is supposed to end by 2019 but we are saying no, you must leave site before October. Although we had a verbal agreement with them to quite site by June 2018. However, in terms of contract, it is 2019.”
Speaking on funding of the project, Amaechi stated that the government had no apology when it comes to borrowing to fund infrastructure in Nigeria.
“What we have borrowed is $1.6 billion for railways. It for Lagos-Ibadan. The ministry is funding this (Itakpe-Warri) this contract is about a hundred and something million dollars to CCECC, what is CCECC is doing is that they vandalised from Itakpe to Ajaokuta. Haven’t built this for 30-something years some criminals just went and vandalised, what we did was give them a contract not to only relay the tracks back to Ajaokuta but also do sidings.”
“We are funding Abuja-Kaduna. In total, it will come down to a billion dollars. The Chinese government gave us $500 million and we are giving N500 million. We awarded a contract of $500 million for coaches the China Exem bank wanted to give us the money but the president turned it down and said we should fund it ourselves and we started funding it, $500 million to fund locomotives, the CCECC want to manufacture wagons, some of us think it will be Ajaokuta because of the iron ore.”
Amaechi said the Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri rail project had been abandoned for close to 34 years and that the government was trying to complete it. He noted that when the project is completed, Nigeria would be the first country in Africa to have a standard gauge line.