Abuja metro train returns next year as contractor gets eight-month deadline

Abuja metro train returns next year as contractor gets eight-month deadline 

Suspended Abuja light train is expected to return to operation next year, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, gave the indication on Wednesday.

The minister directed the permanent secretary of the ministry to complete payment to the Chinese concession company handling the project in order to conclude rehabilitation of the rail within eight months.

Wike gave the ultimatum during an inspection of the Abuja Metro Station in Idu and the Airport Station on his first assignment outside the office after the swearing-in as minister.

He said task of restoring the Abuja metro line had become imperative as part of President Bola Tinubu’s promise to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians within the shortest time possible.

Wike, accompanied by the Minister of State for FCT, Mairiga Mahmud, and other officials, addressed the contractors, questioning the quality of work.

The Abuja metro rail was inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari on July 12, 2018, and opened for passengers the following week.

The project was originally meant to solve the perennial transportation problem in Abuja, as well as adjoining towns and cities.

It was to cost $824 million and to be funded 60 per cent with loans from Exim Bank of China. It was proposed to cover 290km, and developed in six phases or lots.

When the metro rail was opened for business in 2018, only the section from the Abuja Metro Station in the Central Business District (CBD) to the airport was put to use, with an intermediate station at Idu.

The train service soon abandoned.

Wike told journalists during a visit to the Metro Station, in Abuja, that the measure was part of his resolve to address challenges affecting public transportation in the FCT.

Transportation, he asserted, is one of the sectors he intends to transform in the short time to improve public transportation in the capital city. He said: “I know that we have a metro station in Abuja, and it is not working. Why is it not working? Can we fix it within a short time?”