By Demi Adeniyi
The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) may have suspended work on the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Rail over growing insecurity, threats to lives of its officials and vandalism.
The Minister of Transportation, Alhaji Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, disclosed this in Port Harcourt, during his tour of the Eastern rail line corridor on Friday.
According to him, the contractor suspended work on the rehabilitation of the line, due to insecurity and vandalism of railway properties along the corridor.
Sambo said: “China Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCEC), handling the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the project had complained of attacks on its workers especially along the Abia State axis.
Sambo, who was very displeased by these acts, condemned it in strong terms, pointing out that in the history of Nigeria, no administration has invested more in rail infrastructure like the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Last month, during his duty tour to Lagos, Sambo had threatened sanctions on CCECC following their refusal to release funds or move to the various sites where they had been expected to be working. He had cited the Kano-Kaduna rail line, as well as the Port-Harcourt-Maiduguri narrow gauge rail line, as two lines the government had been looking forward to delivering to Nigerians before handing over next year. He gave CCECC an October deadline to come up with a workable solution or be sanctioned.
Former Minister of Transportation had on March 10, 2021, flagged off the rehabilitation of the $3 billion 1,443 kms (897miles) Port-Harcourt – Maiduguri narrow gauge rail line (widely regarded as the Eastern Rail Line).
The rail line is expected to link Nigeria’s industrial and agricultural hubs, thereby raising the hope of the revitalization of industrial and agro-allied business which had gone comatose since the rail corridor went into rot in the late 70s.
Amaechi had said while Nigeria is expected to provide about 15% counterpart funding, a consortium of Chinese banks scouted by the ChinaExim Bank are expected to come up with the balance.
To make the deal attractive, the Federal Government had struck a deal for the construction of a railway Complex at Port Harcourt, and the construction of the Bonny Deep Sea Port, both of which would be built on a Build Own, Operate and Transfer Model. He had expressed hope that the projects as well as the rail construction would be delivered in 18 months.
Amaechi expressed hope that the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail rehabilitation would boost intra-Nigeria trade as farmers, from the North, would have greater opportunity to transport their agricultural produce faster, cheaper and better on the rail to the South.
“The reduction in costs of transportation will translate to some moderation in prices of goods. Relatedly, most of the farm products which are perishable in nature will have the opportunity of a faster and more efficient means of transportation, making it easier for these goods to get to where they are needed. In the long term, it will help the farmers to scale up given the increased access to market,” Amaechi said.
Amaechi appealed to traditional rulers and other political leaders to rein in their subjects and allow the contractor to complete the work on time as the project is meant to add value to their standard of living.
But some powerful Nigerians have carpeted the federal Government for merely deeming it fit to rehabilitate the rotted narrow gauge rail tracks. They wondered why the Federal Government would bequeath a standard gauge to the Lagos-Kano rail line and even contemplate a standard gauge from Katsina – Maradi, in Niger Republic, while it would merely rehabilitate the narrow gauge in their domains.