Romanus Ugwu
MINISTER of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, has said that the federal government would require a stagger- ing sum of $40 billion to inter-connect all the states of the federation by rail.
He assured that not even his exit as the Minister will stall the completion of the project, stressing that the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari to complete the rail projects is unshakable.
Speaking during the inspection of the ongoing Lagos-Ibadan railway project, the former governor of Rivers state as- sured that having won the election, the anxiety over the continuation of the rail project should be rested, adding that the President Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) will network the country through railway line.
While giving update on the Lagos-Calabar railway project, the Minister said: “The contract has been awarded but we are looking for money to start the project. You don’t need to ask that question because as an indigene of South-south, I am emotionally attached to that project. It is unfortunate that we have not gotten the fund to prosecute that project.
“The project was awarded under for- mer President Goodluck Jonathan after former President Obasanjo failed to award it. The directive of President Buhari is that we should do everything possible to link the whole Nigeria with rail. But like I always tell Nigerians, we need lots of patience because we need at least $36 billion to $40 billion to inter-connect the country by rail.
“When he had the money what did he do with it? Those criticising President Buhari did not ask that question. We squandered and enjoyed the money through corruption. It is a bit difficult to meet up with the challenges we are facing because the challenges revolve around funds. As for Lagos-Kano railway line project, we are trying to visit China for renegotiation of the project. We don’t have the fund for it now,” he said.
On the fears of possible discontinuation of the rail projects, he said: “Why should you ask that question when you know that the funding comes from China Nexim Bank and when we have finished paying our own counterpart funding. Why should it be abandoned? The good thing is that we have won the election and having won, the same government will finish the project because it is the same government and even if he changes the Minister, it is still the same government.”
He equally spoke on his impression about the work so far, noting; “We are having soil challenges and we need to re- place the soil. The problem happened as a result of poor geological survey, where it was discovered that the water level is very high. It is not much obstacle, they just need to replace the soil. On the level of work done so far, I will say that I was not impressed with the extent of work from what we saw during the last inspection, but they are human beings. They have however assured me that they will lay the beams for the tracks in a week’s time,” he said.
