No fewer than 250, 000 jobs would be
created by the Federal Government in the rail sector, the Minister of
Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has said.
He maintained that Abuja-Kaduna rail
line project alone was expected to generate about 1000 jobs to secure
the rail line. According to the milestones already attained by the
contractor handling the project, the rail line is expected to be
operational and commence commercial operation by July this year.
He also reiterated the Federal
Government’s commitment and determination to complete all ongoing
projects and commence construction work on the new ones in the rail
sector.
Amaechi who disclosed this in a
statement issued in Abuja also revealed that N13 billion had been
earmarked in the 2016 budget to complete the Abuja-Kaduna rail line
project and to settle all other expenditure that may be incurred in the
course of concluding work on the rail line project.
The Minister explained that the changes
in the inauguration date of the rail line project which was initially
slated for this month was due to the delay in the compensation payment
to the Daughter of Charity Hospital along the rail line near Kubwa, FCT,
Abuja.
“I thought that by March, we would have
concluded discussions with the officials of the Daughter of Charity
Hospital but unfortunately that did not happen, and now that we have
paid them their compensation, we will expedite work on the rail line and
conclude for it to be operational”, he explained.
Amaechi revealed that N222 billion was
budgeted for the transportation sector in the 2016 budget out of which
Lagos-Kaduna and Lagos-Calabar rail lines would gulp N60 billion each.
He explained that President Muhammadu
Buhari’s priority was to see the earnest commencement of these two
projects because of the volume of jobs it would generate for Nigerians.
According to him, the Federal Government
was currently discussing with the China-Exim Bank on the modality of
fast tracking the commencement of the two projects which were very dear
to Mr. President.
On the intermodal system in the rail
sub-sector, Amaechi reiterated that the rail lines would be linked to
the nation’s seaports where cargoes could be transmitted into the
railway and carried to the next station where trucks would be available
for onward transmission to their destinations.
He stated that by so doing, the
associated pressure on the roads by trucks and other heavy duty vehicles
would be reduced drastically since they constituted the major means of
evacuating goods from the nation’s seaports.
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