By Nairaland Forum By Garba Shehu,
Senior Special Assistant to the President, Media and Publicity.
Abuja.
President Muhammadu Buhari will on Thursday lay the foundation stone of the Kano-Abuja sector of the Lagos-Kano railway modernization project.
The Lagos-Kano rail project is part of the 25-year vision approved by the Federal Government for the rail transportation in 2002. The contract for it was signed on 30th October, 2002 and assigned to a Chinese Company, China Civil Engineering Construction Company, CCECC.
On October 22,2009 CCECC and the Federal Ministry of Transportation signed a supplementary agreement for the implementation of the Abuja-Kaduna segment, which was completed, commissioned and put to use by the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
On 28th August 2012, the government signed another supplementary agreement for Lagos-Ibadan, the second segment of the corridor for the construction of double track railway of 156.8 kilometers.
In addition to this, the CCECC and the government of Nigeria agreed on December 26, 2016 for the extension of this rail line to Apapa port, adding a distance of 8.57 kilometers.
Given the seriousness attached to the provision of super critical infrastructure projects the Buhari administration dusted off these agreements and commended actual execution.
In June this year, the President was in Lagos to commission this project and officially place it at the service of Nigerians.
In the same vein, the proposed Kano-Ibadan was signed in April 2019, and the segment traverses Oyo, Osun, Kwara , Niger, Abuja, Kaduna and Kano states. This segment, it was agreed, will be implemented in three addendums: Ibadan-Minna, 460 kilometers, Minna-Abuja, 127 kilometers and the now to be commenced, Kano-Kaduna segment covering a distance of 203 kilometers.
This is an important passenger transportation corridor to connect the northern and the southern parts of Nigeria. The kano-Kaduna segment of this project passes through important cities and towns in the north like Kaduna, Jaji, Zaria and Kano, and there is a dense population along the line. This line will undertake passenger exchange in various cities and towns between the capital of Nigeria and the largest city in the North, Kano. Therefore, this project is an important passenger transportation corridor to connect the main cities in the northern Nigeria, and in due course, the major towns down south.
This project is going to form an important part of the West African railway network. The 15 ECOWAS states are committed to a subregional railway network. It is hoped that it will connect to the Niger Republic railway through Read More
Source:: Nigerian Chatter
