A dual-carriage, high-speed rail between Lagos and Ibadan was on Thursday approved for construction by Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council, in a meeting chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Originally contracted in 2006, the details of the nearly $1.5 billion contract were rewritten following renegotiations between the federal government and the Chinese construction firm handling the project, China Civil Engineering Construction Corportation, CCECC.
A whooping $8.6 billion contract was signed between the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration and CCECC in October 30 2006 to modernize Nigeria’s network of rail transport system. President Umaru Yar’Adua-led administration also approved $76.25 million in 2009 for the purchase of 25 diesel-powered locomotives.
Both investments by the Obasanjo and Yar’Adua governments followed a similar one by the military government of the late General Sani Abacha, whose acquisition of 50 railway coaches for the Nigerian Railway Corportation hardly resulted in the improvements that Nigerians desired in the transport sector.
Having been besotted by bureaucratic issues since the contract was originally awarded, observers will now keep their fingers crossed and hope that the latest attempt to kick-start the project works.
If all goes well the project will be completed in 36 months.
Also approved on Thursday was the reworked version of the contract for the design and construction of the Abuja Rail Mass Transit Project.
The administration of former minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Adamu Ailero, came up with the idea of light rail transport scheme in 2009. The light rail, which is expected to link the city, was billed to terminate at a Terminus located on the present NNPC Mega Station, in the centre of the city.
Since the idea was mooted, however, little has been heard about the project, thus leaving residents to doubt the good intention of government.
The Federal Government recently obtained a soft loan of about five million dollars (N80 billion) from the Chinese Government to complete the Abuja Light Rail Project and was part of the contractual agreement that would better the lives of Nigerians through the execution of projects.
Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, recently led a federal government delegation to visit China to finalise the Chinese Nexim Bank credit facility to complement financing of the rail project.
Federal Capital Territory Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, who was on that delegation, had said that the conclusion of the loan-deal would go a long way to ensure speedy completion of the project.
According to him, the project would afford the residents cheaper means of transportation and significantly reduce the traffic problems being experienced at peak hours in Abuja.
The construction of the Abuja Rail Mass Transit Project was conceptualised when the Federal Government on May 7, 2007, laid the foundation stone for a $84 million Abuja Light Rail Project. According to former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who performed the foundation laying ceremony, the ALRS, which is expected to cover 280 kilometres, was designed to convey commuters from the satellite towns to the city centre.
The project was practically abandoned for while, but hopes were raised when the Federal Executive Council on Wednesday, August 18, 2010, approved a N1.26 billion ($841 million) contract for project management services in respect of the Lots 1-3 of the light rail transit project, christened The Abuja Rail Mass Transit project, being constructed by a Chinese firm at a cost of $841.64 million (about N124 billion).
Each kilometre will gulp $13 million. Upon completion, Lot 1 is expected to handle approximately 350,000 riders per day while Lot 3 will carry about 60,000 commuters per day.
The federal government will also spend up to 2 million Euros for the supply and installation of spare parts for the Shiroro hydro-electric power plant, according to details of Wednesday’s deliberations of the FEC.
According to the minister of power, Professor Barth Nnaji who briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, the projects will sustain the generators for another five years of dependable service.
Mr. Nnaji also revealed that another $10.092 million was approved by the government for the restoration of the plant units in the Omotosho Power Plant.