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FG to fund part of Kano–Kaduna rail project outside loan

By Joke Falaju (Abuja) and Jesutomi Akomolafe (Lagos)
01 June 2021   |   3:55 am
One-third of the proposed Kano–Kaduna rail project will be funded from the ministry’s budget, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said.

Rotimi Amaechi. Photo; TWITTER/MINTRANSPORTNG

One-third of the proposed Kano–Kaduna rail project will be funded from the ministry’s budget, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said.

Disclosing this on Sunday, during inspection tour of the Lagos–Ibadan railway project at Moniya, Ibadan, Oyo State, ahead of the commissioning in June, Amaechi said due to the processes involved in accessing loans, the Ministry would proceed with the project from Kano end, pending the approval of the loan.

“I have announced that we will no longer wait for the loan, but proceed with Kano–Kaduna rail because we have some financial advance from our budget. We will pay one-third of the money this year before this budget expires. When we get the loan, then we will continue from Ibadan to Kano, because if we don’t finish from Lagos to Kano, it will make no economic sense,” he said.

On government’s readiness to commission the Lagos–Ibadan railway project, the minister said: “We started from Apapa down to Ibadan and there’s no single station that you would say that we couldn’t get down on the platform. The remaining aspects of sanitary facilities will be put in place before the commissioning.”

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who was in the minister’s entourage, said he was impressed with the project.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has promised to provide succour to host communities who were adversely affected environmentally or otherwise by the construction of the rail project

Amaechi assured that issues of erosion or flooding occasioned by the construction would be addressed.

In furtherance to that, he directed the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Magdalene Ahani, to ensure that the communities were visited to ascertain the impact and possible interventions.

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