Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi has said negotiations for the possible construction of the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line are ongoing.
The minister said this on Thursday in a statement by his media aide, Mr Israel Ibeleme.
Amaechi said the Federal Government and the Chinese Government were still negotiating on the project.
The minister also said the Federal Government would also continue its negotiations with Russians for the commencement of the Lagos-Calabar rail project.
“The six geo-political zones are all covered: Port Harcourt-Maiduguri covers Port Harcourt, Aba, Owerri, Umuahia, Enugu, Abakaliki, Awka, Makurdi, Lafia, Akwanga, Jos, Bauchi, Gombe, and connects to Damaturu and then Maiduguri.
“The Lagos-Calabar rail line covers the whole of the Southsouth. We have Lagos coming through Akure, Benin.
“Then, from Benin, we have a spot leading to Agbor and Asaba to Onitsha, and then you continue to Benin to Ughelii, Warri, Yenagoa, Port Harcourt, Aba, Uyo, and Calabar that takes care of the Southsouth.
“The Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line takes care of the Southeast and Northeast.
“The Lagos-Kano rail line also takes care of the South West zone and parts of the North West and North Central zones,” he said.
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Amaechi also said the central line, which starts from Abuja, also takes care of the Northcentral, which includes Kogi and Kwara states.
He noted that the construction of the rail lines across the country requires huge funding, even as he acknowledged Nigeria’s rising borrowing profile.
The minister said in view of the debts already incurred, if there was not enough money to construct new rail lines, money could be borrowed to rehabilitate the existing ones.
“Currently, what we have as functional lines are: Lagos-Ibadan (156 kilometres), Abuja-Kaduna (186km), and Itakpe-Warri, which is about 350 kilometres, all put together under this government.
“We have recorded a total of about 600+kilometres of railway. By the time we complete the Ibadan-Kano rail line, which is about 860km, we will be having 1500+kilometres railway constructed by this government.
“I hope that the next government that will take over from us will be able to do something in that regard to progress the railway. This is because even if we finish the Lagos-Kano and Lagos-Calabar rail lines, the Port Harcourt-Maduguri line still needs to be finished,” Amaechi said.
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