Buhari Assures Nigerians Of Rail Development
President Muhamadu Buhari, Thursday, assured Nigerians of his administration’s resolve to pursue railway development in the country.
Buhari who Commissioned 10 new coaches and two locomotives for the Abuja-Kaduna rail services, recalled that he commissioned the Abuja-Kaduna railway service in July 2016, the country’s first ever standard gauge train service.
“I am glad that this service has become very useful for commuters and would soon become the preferred means of transport for the journey from Abuja to Kaduna”.
The president reiterated his administration’s resolve to vigorously pursue railway development in Nigeria through the implementation of the 25year strategic railway masterplan.
He stated that government would further focus on coastal rail like Lagos-Calabar with branches to Benin, Agbor and Onitsha including Port Harcourt to Maiduguri standard gauge rail line with branches to Owerri, Akwa, Abakaliki, Yola and Damaturu.
He added that government would also focus on Kano-Kazure, Daura, Kastina, Jibya to link to Maradi in Niger Republic as part of regional railway inter-connectivity of the ECOWAS sub-region.
The President mentioned that other supporting project that has been approved is the procurement of more locomotives, coaches, wagons, workshops and equipment that would be used for standard guage lines.
He maintained that negotiations are on for the concessioning of the narrow gauge rails with a consortium General Electric to encourage private sector participate in the railway development, Buhari said “We are looking forward to a more efficient railway service on the narrow gauge line to be driven by the private sector adding government is creating a conducive environment participation by strengthening the legal and regulatory framework
He reiterated government commitment to linking all major commercial and production centres by rail for rapid social economic development and improving the quality of life of the citizens and improving the national integration.
He said it’s not just a statement of my intent, but benchmark for measuring the performance of the administration, soliciting the support of the national assembly, development partners and relevant stakeholders to achieve their aim
Welcoming the President to Kaduna, the Minister of Transportation, Mr Chibuike Amaechi said government would do all within its powers to complete the Lagos-Ibadan railway.
“We are already negotiating with contractors that will fund the project. If we are able to complete the arrangements again taking into consideration the Nigeria law, we will start many of them this year. That include many of them.”
“We need between $36 billion to $40 billion. Only God knows where we are going to get it. But I applied what I did as Rivers State governor. When there is a project, we put on the table how much we have, we will just award the contract believing that God will do it for us. You will say that it is naive but at the end of the day we got the money to pay the constructors.”
