The Federal Government has announced that the Ibadan-Kano rail project would be starting off by the first quarter of year 2020. The minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, said this while speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the December inspection of the project.
Amaechi, who commended the contractor, China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) for the just-completed 156 kilometre track from Lagos to Ibadan said that although the contractors slated April as their deadline of completing the work, the government would push them back to work starting from January 6.
According to him, “the excuses they are giving now is that most of their workers have gone on Christmas break. I quite disagree with the speed of work at the stations, but they have tried with the tracks, this is the first time that we are taking ride from Lagos to Ibadan major station.
“We should commend them that they have been able to get to the 156km the remaining 2km is not part of the contract, because the contract states 156km.
“Although am not quite happy with their pace of work, but they have said they have a time line which is for the minor stations to be ready by February and major stations would be ready by April which means you can commission by April or you force them to speed up and that will be before February.”
[READ MORE: Transport Minister sets April 2020 deadline for Lagos-Ibadan railway project)
According to ThisDay, he added that, “they have done well in track laying and construction of stations. Well I have told them to source for their materials locally things like doors windows can be bought in Nigeria, we are encouraging them to use our materials from Nigeria so that our industry can grow.
“What you see in Kajola station is the trial run of our local content including the tiles, windows and doors, if they meet the standard we are looking for, we will then recommend that all other station use local materials.”
What you should know: The Federal Government had given approval for the construction of the $5.3 billion Ibadan to Kano standard gauge rail line project in September this year. Amaechi had filed for the Ibadan-Kano rail project to be approved alongside the coastal rail for the Port Harcourt to Warri segment.
