The federal government says delivering the Port
Harcourt-Maiduguri eastern rail line during the current administration’s tenure
is no longer feasible.
Mu’azu Sambo, minister of transportation, said this on
Wednesday while fielding questions on what is hindering the administration from
delivering the project before May 29, 2023 as earlier promised.
He said the delay is due to the federal government’s
inability to secure foreign loans that will make 85 percent of the funds needed
to execute for the project.
“The question relating to the promise to deliver the eastern
line narrow gauge before the end of this administration. 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,” he 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, 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.”
In March 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari performed the
groundbreaking of the $1.96 billion rail line project, saying it would
stimulate economic activities in 14 states where it traverses.
The benefiting states included the south-east states of
Abia, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi and Enugu. Others are Rivers, Nasarawa, Benue,
Plateau, Kaduna, Yobe, Borno, Bauchi, and Gombe.
However, in September, 2022, Sambo said work on the Port
Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line was suspended due to insecurity and vandalism of
railway properties along the corridor.
He said the China Civil Engineering and Construction Company
(CCECC), the contractor handling the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the
project, had complained of attacks on its workers along the Abia state axis.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com