FG says eastern railway corridor project not feasible
The federal government on Wednesday said it will not be able to complete the narrow-gauge Eastern railway corridor before the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), leaves office in May 2023.
This is because the foreign loans required the fund the project are no longer available, it said.
“Now, the truth of the matter is that if there was a promise to deliver this line before the end of this administration, this promise is no longer feasible because…funding has been a major challenge for this project,” the Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, told State House Correspondents at the end of this week’s Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The PUNCH reports that in April 2022, the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation commenced construction of the 2044.1km Port Harcourt-Maiduguri narrow gauge railway project.
The Minister of Transportation at the time, Rotimi Amaechi, who inspected the commencement of work said the project will stimulate economic activities in the 14 states including five Southeastern states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo, and nine others—Benue, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Plateau, Rivers and Yobe.
Amaechi added that the laying of rail tracks may reach the Enugu State capital by September 2022, with hopes to complete the project before Buhari leaves office in May 2023.
But while inspecting the progress of work in September, Sambo disclosed that the contractor in charge of the project, China Civil Engineering and Construction Company complained of incessant attacks on its workers around the Abia State axis of the rail corridor.
In the same month, the company halted all construction works on the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Eastern Rail Line due to insecurity and incessant vandalism.
According to Sambo: “Now, the eastern line is the line from Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, it has been segmented in such a way that the first part of the works covers from Port Harcourt to Enugu.
“Now, the truth of the matter is that if there was a promise to deliver this line before the end of this administration, this promise is no longer feasible because, when the contract was approved, it was approved on the premise that 85 percent will be funded through foreign loan, while 15 percent will be the counterpart funding for the national budget.
“Since that approval, we have not been able to obtain that 85 percent foreign loan for this project. We have been funding it through the national budget on the bases of the 15 percent counterpart funding of the federal government. And therefore, funding has been a major challenge for this project.”
Sambo also attributed the slow pace of work on the dredging of the Calabar channel, in Cross River state, to a several law suits from individuals.
However, he noted that the President has directed his ministry and that of Justice to resolves the issues as soon as possible.
He said: “By way of background, I would like to state that the Calabar Channel Management is part and parcel of the other channel managements that had existed between the Nigerian Ports Authority and its joint venture partners. Namely the Lagos Channel Management. The Port Harcourt Bonny Channel Management, otherwise called BCCI, Bonny Channel Company Limited and the JV with the Niger Global in respect to Calabar Channel. Punch
