Buhari to inaugurate Kano-Kaduna rail project in two weeks – Minister

President Muhammadu Buhari will inaugurate the construction of Kano -Kaduna standard gauge rail project in the next two weeks, the Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi disclosed on Friday in Abuja.

The minister, who was speaking at the weekly Presidential Media briefing organised by the State House Media Unit, said already all contracts for the projects had been awarded while the loan for the project was not forthcoming from China as earlier planned.

He said the project would now be funded from the ministry budgetary allocation as the Federal Government would not continue to wait endlessly for the loan.

According to him, the Federal Government has already paid $218m to the contractors, saying additional $100m would be paid to them, making it $318m.

Amaechi said, “In the next two weeks, we should be launching and commencing immediately the construction of Kano-Kaduna rail project. The President will be launching it and then we will commence construction immediately.

“The reason why we are commencing construction immediately is that all the necessary contracts have been awarded. We have been waiting for the loan for too long from China and the money has not come. So, we decided to fund it from the budget. We already paid 218million dollars to them and we are about to pay another 100million dollars to make it about $318m.

“Kano-Kaduna is about $1.2bn  – the moment you pay about $318m, you must have paid one third of the project. So, we believe that by the time we get the loan we must have funded up to $600m. So, that should be able to take the project nearly half way before the fund will come because if we continue to wait for the loan whether from China or Europe, we may likely not complete it before we go.’’

The minister said government had so far paid N13bn for the Port Harcourt – Maiduguri rail project, while another N10bn would soon be paid to hasten action on the project.

“The way I am pursuing Port Harcourt – Maiduguri, Kano – Kaduna, and I am doing it like a native man. I think I have paid about N13bn for Port Harcourt – Maiduguri and I am about to pay another N10bn. If I get it to N50bn, I am using the black-market rate. I don’t know what they pay at the CBN. So, it will now be $2.9bn and no longer $3.020bn, and I will continue to do that until we finish the construction,’’ the minister said.