By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The Federal Government has announced that it will begin the construction of the Kaduna-Kano rail line in July.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, made this announcement on Friday when he led a delegation of Nigerian Shippers Council and Nigeria Railway Corporation on a courtesy visit to Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, in Kano.
Amaechi informed that the government was currently rounding up the Lagos-Ibadan rail project billed for inauguration in June and based on that, construction work on the Kaduna-Kano line would commence in July, the Punch reports.
In a statement issued in Abuja by his media aide, Taiye Edeni, Amaechi said, “We are here because we want to see how far you have gone with the Dala Inland Dry Port.
“This is because between now and July, we would start work on the Kaduna-Kano part of the rail. Wherever we link the Kano rail to Kaduna and link Ibadan to Abuja, then we have the problem of cargoes.
The minister added, “We have to learn how to manage cargoes that come to Kano, like you know, we are also linking Kano-Maradi. So Kano will be the hub for the railway sector and with a major station in Kano it will be able to control the volume of human traffic in Kano.”
Responding, Ganduje said that he was delighted that the zonal office of the NSC was located in the state because of the commercial nature of Kano.