Kaduna-Kano rail construction will start this month – Amaechi

Construction work on extension of the Abuja-Kaduna rail line to Kano will begin this June, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, said on Thursday.

He disclosed this while speaking at the inauguration of the new Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line president over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Lagos.

“We have about three or four projects. This month, we will start Kano-Kaduna and then we will also start Port Harcourt to Maiduguri which also is CCECC and then Kano-Maradi” he said.

The minister also called for the maximum utilisation of the new Lagos-Ibadan rail facility.

He said, “The celebration is not enough; it is the impact that it would have on the economy, the goods and services, the personnel it would have to move in record time.”

He however lamented the delay in the loan facility to complete the Ibadan-Kaduna rail line.

“While we are celebrating that, we are not happy that up till now the China Exim Bank is yet to approve the loan for Ibadan to Kano (rail line) because we need to start that and complete it quickly

“We are grateful that the Chinese government through the China Exim bank was able to give us the loan at a concessionary rate to construct from the seaport down to Ibadan. We hope that we get money to be able to construct from Ibadan to Kano so that we can complete the track and make sure that business takes place,” he stated.

He also said, “We got money from China Exim Bank, we paid counterpart funding. We did put pressure on the CCECC and delivered on time. In terms of quality, what we have is good.”