….As FG awaits $1.3bn CDB facility to advance
Femi Akinola
The Minister of Transportation, Sa’idu Alkali, has said that construction work on the Kano-Maradi railway project embarked by the Federal Government of Nigeria has reached 35% completion.
The Federal Government, according to the minister, awaits the release of the $1.3 billion credit facility from the China Development Bank to move forward with the rail project.
Alikali disclosed this during an inspection of the Kano-Daura-Maradi railway project alongside members of the Senate Committee on Land Transportation who were also on an oversight visit to the project.
The minister said: ”The idea of unbundling the sector is to allow the private sector particiption,” pointing at the huge investment the federal government is making in the sector to ensure necessary infrastructure is in place.
He continued, ”By the time you start freight from Lagos to Maradi, in line with the African Continental Free Traade Agreement, we are going to generate a lot of money; it will make a significant impact on the nation’s GDP.
”By the time we link Port Harcourt and Onne ports through Aba to Maiduguri, you will see the transformation and you will see how it will be next to oil.”
On completion, the 393 km railway line project will connect Kano in Nigeria to Maradi in neighbouring Niger Republic. It’s a new railway line being developed by the Ministry of Transportation.
Construction of the Kano-Maradi railway line project started in February 2021 and expected to be completed in 2025. Expected investment is $1.96 billion.