The federal government on Tuesday signed $6.68 billion contract agreement for the Ibadan-Kaduna segment of the Lagos-Kano rail line with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).
The information is in a statement by Yetunde Sonaike, the Director, Press, Federal Ministry of Transportation in Abuja.
Mrs Sonaike stated that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, signed the contract and said the agreement was for the implementation of Addendum no. 4, indicating the Ibadan-Kaduna segment of the Lagos-Kano rail line.
The director quoted Mr Amaechi as saying “this agreement is for the Ibadan-Kaduna rail line, which is part of the Lagos-Kano rail line, the completion time of the contract should be between two to three years, depending on availability of funds.”
Mr Amaechi promised that the ministry would be able to provide its counterpart funding between 2018 and 2019 budget provision, stating that the contract was a fulfillment of Federal Government’s plan to complete the Lagos-Kano rail modernisation project.
He added that “the Ibadan-Kaduna standard gauge line will pass through Oshogbo-Ilorin-Minna to Kaduna, with a single track branch line from Oshogbo to Ado-Ekiti.
“This contract is in fulfillment of federal government’s plan to complete the Lagos-Kano rail modernisation project started in 2006 and broken into segments for implementation.
The segmentation phase commenced from Abuja-Kaduna rail line in 2011, which was completed and commissioned into commercial operation by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016.
“The federal government in March 2017 commenced the second leg of the Lagos-Kano line that is currently ongoing and planned to be completed by the end of 2018.
“The signing of the Ibadan–Kaduna segment contract agreement today concludes all outstanding segments of the Lagos-Kano rail line.”
