Nigeria’s railway projects have
recorded a fresh setback as General Electric pulls out of Nigeria’s $2bn narrow
gauge railway concession.
The company has handed over to
South African Transnet SOC Limited, which deals in pipeline, port, and rail
construction.
TheCable reports that GE
had pulled out from the deal a while ago, following the sale of its
111-year-old rail construction business, but the information was kept under
wraps in government circles.
In April, Yewande Thorpe, head of communications, GE
Nigeria, said the company signed an interim concession agreement with Nigeria
phase for “light remedial civil and track repair works” on the narrow gauge
rail line.
“Additionally, a joint operation
will be established between the (GE-led) consortium and the Nigeria Railway Corporation with a supply of 10
locomotives and 200 wagons provided to augument the existing rolling stock in
Nigeria,” she added via a statement.
All of that rail work is in doubt
now, as GE, who led the consortium pulled out of the deal, handing reins over
to Transnet, who recently recalled its Nigerian team.
Speaking at the 24th Nigerian
Economic Sumit (NES24), Rotimi Amaechi, Nigeria’s minister of transportation,
said the concession has inched from one setback to the other.
“We met GE an GE told us that for
11 years, we have been begging the federal government to concession narrow
gauge to us, and they have refused.
“And I told them, we would
concession it to you tomorrow if you are ready. They said they are ready. Six
months, we have finished all documentation, everything we need to do, GE slowed
us down.
The president even fired the then
DPP because he was becoming a clog in the process of ensuring that we
succeeded. We were at the verge of concessioning, when GE transport… did it
collapse or they sold it.
“You people are businessmen, I
don’t want to say the one that they would say it affected the economy, but they
are no longer there to deal with us.
“Then Transnet took over because
Transnet was part of the consortium, and we met on Friday, and we were to meet
today (Monday), but if you read your papers, the just fired the head of
Transnet.
“So I said, what is this
witchcraft? And they have now summoned the team back to South Africa. We have
made progress, we are at the verge of completion. Today, we would have been
looking at the draft agreement.”
The Nigerian government led by
President Muhammadu Buhari has made strong commitments to the rehabilitation of
the Nigerian railways.
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