Eastern railway rehabilitation begins next week, says FG

With route extension to Abakaliki, Awka

MIKE OCHONMA

The Nigerian federal government has revealed that, the rehabilitation of the Eastern railway corridor linking Port Harcourt to Maiduguri will be flagged off on March 9, with a branch route to Abakaliki, Ebonyi and Awka in Anambra state.

Rotimi Amaechi, Nigeria’s minister of transportation disclosed this during a routine inspection of the $1.5 billion Lagos to Ibadan standard project.

He explained that the federal government’s decision to extend the rail route to Ebonyi and Anambra is part of government’s efforts to connect the entire country by rail.

The Eastern railway corridor will now have a branch route to Abakaliki and Awka,” he stated. Amaechi also said President Muhammadu Buhari will perform the ground-breaking ceremony for the Eastern rail corridor on March 9, 2021.

Giving his view on the level of work done towards the completion of all station buildings along the Lagos-Ibadan rail corridor as well as the extension of the rail line from Ebutte Metta to the Apapa sea port, Amaechi said “as you can see, the laying of the track has been successfully done into Apapa port.”

“The stations are completed too, what is left at most of the stations is the fixing of bulbs and little things like that. If we tell CCECC to get this place ready for commissioning in the next two weeks, this place will be ready,” he added.

The minister however charged the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and other agencies at the port to ensure that the train is highly utilized in lifting cargo when the rail project is fully commissioned.

He tasked the management of NPA to ensure that trucks are cleared at the port, adding that only registered trucks moving goods imported or to be exported be allowed into
the ports.