FG criticises the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail project’s sluggish progress

Sen. Saidu Alkali, the minister of transport, has expressed his dissatisfaction with the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) Ltd.’s poor progress on the renovation of the Eastern Railway Corridor.

When he checked on the status of the work being done to rehabilitate the Eastern railway corridor to Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, the minister expressed his opinions on Friday.

Alkali lamented the fact that, compared to the full line from Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri, just 47% of the project had been completed between Port-Harcourt and the Aba Section.

“How would you be able to complete over 2,000km in 36 months if you cannot travel the 63 km from Port-Harcourt to Aba in 12 months?”
Alkali voiced shock at the CCECC’s use of antiquated manual alignment procedures to install track in the twenty-first century.

He claims that out of a project’s 85% Chinese funding and 15% Federal Government funding, only the Federal Government’s 15% fund allocation has provided funding for the project up to this point.

The minister declared that he would return to the ministry to determine what was possible within the parameters of the law and that he would enforce whatever the law provided on the issues noticed.

Alkali, on the other hand, said that connecting the two seaports in Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri and promoting regional trade at a far lower cost were two of the most striking advantages.

The minister gave the zone’s residents the reassurance that when passenger rail service did start, it would significantly lessen the impact of the loss of petroleum subsidies on Nigerians who would use the service.

Mr. C. Ching, a representative of the CCECC, briefed the Minister and his delegation and guaranteed that the first phase of the project, from Port-Harcourt to Aba, would be completed by December 2023.

The CCECC informed the minister that there would be adequate supplies on hand to finish the project by the deadline and added that special “anti-theft” bolts and nuts had been added to the project to deter vandalism.

According to Onovo, the inspection was attended by the project’s consultant, Khairi and Jamub Global Services Limited, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, directors from the Ministry, the Managing Director of NRC, Fidet Okhiria, and other individuals.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the $3 billion rehabilitation and reconstruction of the 1,443-kilometer Eastern Railway Line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri was started by the federal government on March 10, 2021.

When finished, it will connect the states of Rivers, Abia, Imo, Enugu, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kaduna, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, and Borno, according to NAN. (NAN)