The Federal government has given China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) till November 25th to complete the construction of the 7 minor stations on the Lagos-Ibadan rail project and also to complete the construction of the rail tracks from Iju to Ebute Metta, kilometre 20 to kilometre 4.
Giving this charge after an inspection of the project at Kajorla Ogun state on Monday, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi said the construction company had not lived up to their promise of completing the stations in three months. “They said before the dissolution of the cabinet that, they were going to complete the stations in three months. May, June and July but we are here today in October and the station are not completed.
“What do we agree the last time we were here, we said the next meeting will be holding here because we told the Chinese company that this place should be completed, is this place completed? So why did you bring us here?” the Minister questioned CCECC.
“You have refused to bring your materials in and we are not owning you one Kobo, we have paid everything so what is the problem! You (CCECC) gave three months to complete these buildings and now you are giving the excuse that your materials from China have not arrived.
“The reason we gave you the contract was for you to grow our local economy, but now you bring doors from China, you bring widows from China, you bring roofing sheets from China and if we are not careful, you will bring sand from China.”
He, therefore, charged the Director of Railway, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and CCECC to ensure that, “next meeting Monday 25th November will hold here in a completed environment, not just here but most of the minor stations.”
Amaechi also said the government will commence test running of the rail line on 30th of November,” if the coaches we are expecting from China had not arrived, we will use the two coaches here. We will start trial runs because we made promises to Nigerians and we must fulfil that promise, so the test running must start from Ebute Metta to Ibadan,” he noted.
The Minister again charged the contractor to deploy more equipment and personnel to ensure timely completion of the stations and the project in general, “ I know that I am putting pressure on you but you must ensure that you do quality and standard job while trying to meet your deadline,” he stated.
In response, one of CCECC Engineers, Xia Liju said the company was sourcing materials for the construction of the stations locally, “we are sourcing all the materials here, we are not importing them” he explained.
Xia explained further that heavy rain had hindered the construction of the stations and laying of tracks from Iju to Ebute Metta.
The 36 months Lagos-Ibadan rail project is expected to terminate in February.
Credit: Nigerian Tribune
