By Abba Gwale
The minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said that the Federal Government is set to start four rail line projects in some parts of the country.
While speaking at the Annual Ministerial press briefing on projects, activities and programmes of the Federal Ministry of Transportation and its agencies.
The minister highlighted four rail projects which the federal government is set to commence such as the Ibadan-Kano, Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, Kano-Maradi and Lagos-Calabar rail lines.
Amaechi did not specifically revealed when the projects would start, but he confirmed that the Federal Government was about to start the rail lines.
“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 include 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 said.
He added that “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.”
In his address at the event, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said the President Muhammad Buhari led-Administration would leave a lasting legacy through the rail projects being constructed by the Federal Ministry of Transportation.
Lai however said the official inauguration of some of the already completed rail projects would be completed soon, as plans were on to get this settled in due course.
