A mild tremor on the speed train corridor and a few adjustments to the project may alter the government’s plan to roll out the trains for commercial activity on the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge in October, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE
When the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Chairman, Mallam Ibrahim Alhassan, led members of the board on a tour of the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge penultimate week, all they saw was that the Corporation appeared set for eventual roll out of commercial activity latest by October.
But that expectation may be threatened, unless the contractor rises up to the latest challenge that has confronted the project. An earth tremor that occurred at DK 44 (Kilometre 44), at a village under Ifo Local Government, last week, may throw a spanner in the works and threaten the integrity of the project.
The Federal Ministry of Transport (FMOT) was visibly agitated by the development and its Permanent Secretary, Mr Sabiu Zakari, last Friday led a monitoring team to assess the impact of the incident.
Although the rail tracks were not affected, the tremor was powerful enough to have created a huge gorge that shifted the protective wall, thus posing a potential threat to the tracks if not urgently addressed. The quake also exposed the pipeline that passed through the area.
By the time Zakari’s team visited the site, the contractor, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), had provided an engineering solution to cage the raging threat. A double-layered precast embankment was being constructed to check the threat, with the Permanent Secretary expressing satisfaction.
“Our engineers and our supervising consultants have seen what the contractor has done and certified it okay. With this solution we are sure that the tremor has been put under check and would not be of any threat to this project whether now or in the near future,” Zakari said.
He described the tremor as one of the unforeseen exigencies that occur on a project of such magnitude. He expressed satisfaction that the contractor has been able to provide a solution to protect the project and the rail line’s integrity.
Zakari was, however, evasive when asked whether the development was capable of disrupting the planned take-off of commercial activity by October. He disclosed that the government was determined to ensure that it delivered a project that meets the best standard anywhere in the world.
According to him, the contractor cannot be hastened to rail-road the project just because the government wants to meet its set deadline. “We have to choose between doing the job well and meeting our deadline.”
The tremor, he said, was the least expected the project. “I am sure that we never anticipated an earth tremor,” he said, adding that besides the tremor, the team visited to assess the impact of the proposed alteration to the Abeokuta train station.
On the said station, he disclosed that though an elevator (lift) has been provided to be installed at the station, the contractor and government’s consultants are proposing an escalator instead to be constructed because of the anticipated passenger traffic. “We have therefore, come to see how this could be accommodated within the project,” he said.
Mallam Alhassan disclosed that the corporation would rather deliver a project that meets global standards in safety precautions than to rush at delivering a project of doubtful integrity.
“We were shocked when we learnt that a tremor had occurred at a section of the project, and we are happy that the contractor is already providing an engineering solution that would arrest it,” Alhassan said, adding that all hands are on deck to ensure that the project meets the expectation of all.
NRC Managing Director, Fidet Okhiria, however, assured that the incident may not affect the corporation’s plans to roll out commercial activity in October.
Okhiria in an interview said: “With the two tracks now at kilometre 157, attention is back in Lagos, where we would want to ensure that we speed up the activity and link the speed train to Ebute Metta and from there to the Apapa Ports.”
According to him, the contractor would be embarking on the construction of the tracks and the stations simultaneously, adding that “the construction company has assured that it would deliver on the three critical stations latest by December.”
The two critical stations on the corridor, according to Okhiria, are Ebute Metta, Abeokuta and Ibadan. He added that the remaining seven minor ones would be delivered later.
The express track gauge is designed to have 10 ultra-modern train stations, all of which have park and ride facilities. While four of these are in Lagos corridor; (Apapa, Ebute-Metta, Agege, Agbado), three are in Ogun State (Kajola, Papalanto, Abeokuta), and the remaining are in Oyo State (Olodo, Omi-Adio and Ibadan).
The project lost much ground first to natural elements such as rains and the government’s inability to fully secure its right of way early. Almost the whole of last year was used to settle issues of right of way, especially in the Lagos corridor, forcing the contractor to shift attention to the forest between Lagos-Abeokuta and Abeokuta- Ibadan. This forced the contractor to deploy a four-gang segmentation method to execute the project.
With the project reaching its last leg in Ibadan and the prospect of taking off getting clearer, the Federal Government is still struggling to compensate those whose properties were on the right of way, especially on the Lagos end.
Due to its built up environment, establishing the right of way in Lagos, according to a top NRC source, was problematic. There were such as water main, gas and petroleum products pipelines, bridges (at Costain and Yaba) and hundreds of structures, from Iju to Apapa, including the Tejuosho International Market at Yaba.
Also problematic was the relocation of affected public institutions such as the Nigerian Army Ordinance Corps at Alagomeji, Yaba, NRC Lagos District headquarters and staff quarters and a number of public institutions such installations as churches, mosques, firms and industrial concerns, forcing the committee to recommend that Lagos should be the last to be fixed.
The project Manager Leo Yin, said the CCECC is determined to work round these challenges and deliver a project that would marvel Nigerians.
Yin said: “The CCECC is determined to deliver world-class speed train system to Nigerians.”
Though the stations might take longer, there is no doubt that a new narrative of Nigeria’s transportation architecture with the rail as its main artery would soon be here.
Not only would this signal the emergence of new cities along the railway corridor, it also promises to have a massive effect on transportation patterns, especially in Lagos, where the 90 per cent of all containerised movements would be made by rail as well as 80 per cent of all liquid haulage.
This will result in more sanity on the roads which are facing gradual lock-down due to the massive gridlocks in the city state.
But more importantly is the opportunity for new housing stocks as more and more workers, traders and artisans may opt to live in contiguous states while still working in Lagos.
With a speed train calibrated at 150 kilometres per hour, Ibadan to Lagos can then be achieved within an hour, while Abeokuta to Lagos can be done within 30 minutes. Nigerians are already upbeat about this huge possibility and are looking forward to it.
One of such is Olatunji Michael, a business executive, who is already making preparations to mark his birthday in November on the speed train.
“I have keenly followed the developments and happenings on the Lagos-Ibadan speed train and I was doubly happy when I learnt that commercial activity would be flagged off on the train in October. This made me to start planning to celebrate my birthday this year on the train. I will really love to take my family on the train ride to Ibadan and back. My wife and daughter are already planning of cutting my birthday cake with other travelers on board on the train, it would be much fun,” he said.
Such possibilities as Michael’s are the immense opportunities that might be unlocked by the Lagos-Ibadan speed train.