President Muhammadu Buhari’s inaugural speech in 2015 had promised to tackle the decay in the national transportation infrastructure among basic infrastructures which was no doubt achieved.
The administration committed to change the negative condition of Nigerian infrastructure particularly in the Railway sector.
These created a Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund to ensure that once priority infrastructure projects are started they will be continued until completion.
There is a lot of evidence that the administration through the Minister of Transportation, Hon Rotimi Amaechi has definitely worked on Railway project.
Sighting an example is the previously abandoned Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri Rail Line is undergoing test runs and will soon be commissioned.
Also, there are also tracks for the Lagos – Kano rail line as significant progress has been made on the Lagos to Ibadan segment of the project.
Blueprint observed that hundreds of youngsters who had never experienced travelling by railway have purposely gone to Kaduna or Abuja just to have a ride on the air-conditioned trains that run services between the two cities.
The demand for the service was so high that the Nigerian Railway Corporation had to increase the frequency of the shuttle between the two cities in an effort to cope with the surging number of passengers.
Also, the blind can easily be told of Lagos to Kano rail project, which has since commenced operation, Itakpe – Ajaokuta- Warri railway and Abuja-Kaduna rail services, which have brought relief to those plying the route.
The minister also introduced solar-powered tricycles and motorcycles into the Nigerian transport system.
The president himself reported the progress made in the sector to Nigerians during the commissioning of the new light rail for Abuja said the first phase of the rail line will cover 12 other stations within Abuja.
Buhari said the project was in line with the Change Agenda of the government to ensure prudence in the management of Public resources as well as value for money.
While hoping that a modern rail service would boost economy and engage social life , the President said the commissioning of the railway was evidence that the Federal Government was delivering on its promises.
The minister who is currently proposing $8bn double gauge rail line, expected to pass through Osun, Ekiti, Kwara, Ondo, Niger, Kaduna to Kano.
On Transportation of Cargoes from Sea ports
The Federal Government assured to commence transportation of cargoes from the sea ports through the standard rail gauge by December this year.
The minister of Transportation Hon Rotimi Amaechi said it is imperative that the Apapa ports must be connected to the standard gauge rail to ensure proper movement of cargoes.
Amaechi said this during his routine inspection of the project along Kila, Olodo, Ilugun corridor of the track in the outskirts of Ogun State also assured that the 156 km stretch of the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail project has been completed.
According to him, they are already moving towards Ibadan, the track laying is now in Kila, a town on the outskirts of Ogun.
He said in less than a month from now, they should be in Ibadan with the rate the work is going,” he said.
On the delivery of coaches expected from China
Following the spate of kidnapppng and activities of bandits along the Abuja-Kaduna highway, the Federal Government also took delivery of the first batch of 10 Coaches, out of the 64 coaches expected from China in June 2019.
The Minister said these will augment the available Coaches at the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and for deployment to the Standard Gauge Rail lines in the country.
Amaechi affirmed this when he led a delegation to China to inspect the pace of work on the construction of those Coaches at the Chinese Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) Tangshan Co., Ltd, in China.
He said the Federal Government entered into contract agreement with the company in December 2017 to produce 64 coaches to serve the immediate needs of the Standard Gauge Rail Lines in the Country and 10 out of the agreed N0s are ready for delivery.
According to him, “We need Coaches by June latest. We need Coaches that can carry men from one point to another and we need a minimum of 10 coaches now out of the 64”.
“I requested for 10 coaches now because we need to improve on Abuja-Kaduna line. If the 10 doesn’t come, there is nothing I can do but it has to come because they have to manufacture for us to use on the Abuja-Kaduna Line and again, on Lagos-Ibadan Rail Line which will soon be ready pending when the construction of the remaining Coaches will be completed”.
Amaechi, however noted that the pace of work is slow and urged the manufacturers to improve on it, adding that the contract which was signed in December 2019 to manufacture 64 Coaches for Nigeria was supposed to have expired in February 2019.
“The pace of construction is slow and they need to improve on it. In fact the contract has expired, we may not have paid all the money but we paid quite a substantial sum and therefore they should construct speedily”, he said.
On his part, the General Manager, CRRC Tangshan Co., Ltd, Mr. Zhou Junnian explained that the passenger coach components are 100 percent from China, adding that materials for works depend on the speed of the product and the customer requirements.
In the same vein, the Minister also visited the CRRC Shandong, to inspect the Cargo Wagons being built for Nigeria, where he disclosed that there was a verbal agreement with the CCECC to localise the Railway industry in Nigeria which was supposed to produce 15% of the Coaches, Locomotives and Wagons.
He said, “We had a verbal agreement for them to produce 15 % of the Coaches, Locomotives and Wagons, they came back and said it was too expensive to establish Locomotives and Coaches factory and that we can start with Wagon and do 100 % assembly in Nigeria for the first five (5) years, after which, they will now build a factory that will manufacture wagons in Nigeria.
“It is not part of the contract we signed in 2017 but I insisted that for me to sign, they must localise it to create more jobs and reduce the expenditure of foreign exchange.
“We have to go further to ask them if we can own it, we have not talked about ownership but what we said is, localise it. Even though they are using their profit to build it, you can make them hand over the ownership to Nigeria and for the Assembly plant, Kajola in Ogun State has been chosen for the factory”, he said.
Amaechi, further directed that the Managing Director, Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) Engr. Fidet Okhiria to ensure that land is made available to CCECC before May 8, 2019 for the Wagon factory.
Earlier, the Chairman CRRC Shandong, Mr. Wang Zichong while speaking on the progress of the Nigerian Wagon design and manufacturing, noted that the design has been completed and have also procured some materials and prototype and manufacturing will start as early as possible, adding that the specification for Nigeria’s localisation workshop has been completed.
On when the Assembly plant workshop can be completed
He said that it can be done in six months if given the land on time.
