The Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi has
expressed satisfaction with the pace of work on the Lagos- Ibadan standard
gauge railway project, just as he urged the contractor handling the project, China
Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), to source materials locally as
this will grow the Nigerian economy.
Amaechi who made this known while on the monthly inspection
tour on Friday, December 20, 2019 to access the level of work done also reiterated
the Federal Government’s Executive Order 005 on prioritizing Nigerian
businesses and thus instructed the CCECC to source for materials such as doors,
window frames, floor tiles amongst others from the country as this would not
only translate to boosting the economy, but drastically reduce youth
employment.
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The Minister, who was obviously very impressed with the pace
of work done in respect of track laying as the 156km on the Lagos-Ibadan
corridor had been reached, commended CCECC for agreeing to add 2km more at no
extra cost.
Furthermore, the Minister recalled that the railway
modernization project was conceived as a result of the need to decongest the
Apapa Port, take off pressure on roads and open up the hinterland, adding that
the Ebutte Meta -Apapa seaport is the next major hurdle which he hopes would be
completed by February, 2020.
Also, during the inspection, the Minister called on the
Project Consultants, Technics Engineering, Architecture Marketing (T.E.A.M) to
step up on its mandate of guiding, advising and giving him feedback on the
progression project . Architectural Expert Manager, Antonio Previti, promised
on behalf of his team to live up to expectations.
Also, speaking, the Managing Director, Nigerian Railway
Corporation, Fidet Okhiria called on Nigerians to protect the railway project
as it is for their benefit. He made this plea out of the rise in pilfering of
rail line equipment and misuse of train facilities since the launch of the free
train ride from Lagos-Ibadan on November 30, 2019.
He lamented on vandalization of the rails and said that
government will add more coaches to increase operations. “When there is
constant activity on the railway, vandals will not come near”, he said.
Earlier, the Chairman of CCECC gave the assurance that the
company will as much as possible use materials that can be sourced from Nigeria
and that the project will be delivered by April 2020.