By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved the expansion of the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri railway project.
It was gathered that the project is expected to gulp $3.02 billion and will start from Bonny to Port Harcourt to Aba and to Umuahia to Enugu and stretch to Makurdi and then to Lafia and to Kuru and pass through Bauchi to Gombe and Biu before terminating in Maiduguri.
The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, on Wednesday afternoon, confirmed that the council approved the rail project, which is expected to cut down the cost of transportation in eastern Nigeria.
“Port Harcourt – Maiduguri Railway, approved!” the Minister, who governed Rivers State for eight years, announced via his Twitter page this afternoon.
Business Post gathered that during the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, the council approved the construction of a deep seaport in Bonny under a public-private partnership scheme.
Since coming into office in 2015, the administration of Mr Buhari has made efforts to revive the rail transport system in Nigeria.
The sector had been abandoned for years, putting huge pressure on the roads, which have almost become daily death traps because of the poor state.
The present government has made a huge investment in railway construction, borrowing funds from external sources to execute them.
Recently, President Buhari commissioned the Warri-Itakpe rail line and this is expected to boost the economy of the country because the rail passes through Ajaokuta town in Kogi.
Ajaokuta is where the Ajaokuta Steel Company is located. Though the factory is yet to commence full operations, efforts are being made to get it back to life.
Adedapo Adesanya