By John Ikani
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the sum of $11.17 billion for the Lagos-Calabar coastal rail project to link all coastal cities in the country by rail in the next six years.
This was made known by Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed to State House correspondents after the virtual FEC meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Mohammed said Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of transportation, presented two memos which had to do with federal government’s commitment to expanding and consolidating on the rail project.
“The first one has to do with the Kano-Jibia rail and the other one has to do with the Port Harcourt-Maidugiri rail.
“Actually, what was approved today was funding to ensure that work starts immediately on those two rails.
“And then, also another memo that was approved today was the ratification of the president’s approval for the award of contract for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Standard Gauge,’’ he said.
Mohammed added that the FEC has given the approval to commence the Lagos-Calabar Coastal rail, adding that the route is very important because, after the Lagos-Kano route, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal route will link all the coastal cities in the country.
“Actually, the proposed route alignment is as follows; it will go from Lagos to Sagamu, Sagamu to Ijebu-Ode, Ijebu-Ode to Ore, Ore to Benin City, Benin-City to Sapele, Sapele to Warri, Warri to Yenogoa, Yenegoa to Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt to Aba, Aba to Uyo, Uyo to Calabar, Calabar to Akamkpa to Ikom, Obudu Ranch with branch lines from Benin-City to Agbo, Ogwashi-ukwu, Asaba, Onitsha and Onitsha Bridge and then Port Harcourt to Onne Deep Sea Port.
“This particular route is very important especially for our coastal economy; the cost of the project is 11. 17 billion dollars,” the Minister said, adding that the project is expected to be completed in six years.
What you should know
FEC’s approval for the $11.17bn coastal cities rail project comes as the federal government is discussing with London-based bank, Standard Chartered Bank Plc, over the funding of two rail line projects expected to cost about $14.4 billion, as against the earlier plans to get the loans from Chinese banks.
This proposed arrangement is coming after the Nigerian government had already finalized the contract with the Nigerian subsidiary of the state-owned China Civil Engineering Construction Corp (CCECC) for the 2 deals.
The two rail projects include the eastern line that links Port Harcourt with Maiduguri and the extension of the Lagos-Ibadan rail line to Kano.
