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Stakeholders within the transportation sector have expressed hope that the planned overhaul of the Eastern and Western rail lines which through concessioning arrangement approval by the Federal government this month will reduce cost of cargo movement and reduce downtime.
Only last week, the Federal Governmnet secured a $1.5b loan from China-Exim bank to begin work on the Lagos-Ibadan rail project. The target of the Federal Government is to begin work from Apapa sea port to Ogun and then to Ibadan.
It would be recalled that last year August, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo inaugurated a steering committee to drive the concessioning of the old rail lines connectingLagos to Kano rail line, I don’t know if it goes up to Funtua, but mostly the old rail line.
“And then the Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri that may take you to Kaura Namoda and all that.
At inauguration, the steering committee was saddled with the responsibility of putting together and getting the technical committee to negotiate (with bidders) so that that in six months’ time we are before the cabinet for approval.’’
According Amaechi, “There are over 30 million tons of cargo that is lying between Lagos and Kano that need to be moved quickly. Some of them are moved through road networks and they are destroying our roads. The revitalisation of these old rail lines will enable these goods to be carried through the rail.’’
Apart from facilitating movement of cargo that are lying at the Lagos ports to different destinations, the rail lines would also convey commuters at reasonable costs.
Amaechi said that the rail transportation was slow because ”it is narrow gauge’’ but said his ministry needed to revive it while working on the standard gauge already approved by the president.
The concessionaire would among other obligations inject more locomotives, wagons and coaches to carry more passengers and cargoes, when approved.
In his remarks, the Acting Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises, Vincent Akpotaire, said that the mandate of the committee was to set out the critical guidelines for the concessioning of the affected rail lines.
According to him, the committee will operate at the “overview level” to review the work of BPE and working with the Infrastructure and Concession Review Commission in driving the concession process.
“The concession process is proposed to be driven under the laws establishing the BPE but under the oversight if the ICRC.
“But on the whole, the National Council on Privatisation, which the Vice President chairs, is going to supervise the transaction to make sure it is fast-tracked.
