Abuja-Kaduna Rail Project Near 70% Completion

TRACK LAYING TRAIN, AT THE OFFICIAL COMMENCEMENT OF THE TRACK LAYING OF ABUJA (IDU)-KADUNA RAILWAY MODERNIZATION IN ABUJA (NAN)
TRACK LAYING TRAIN, AT THE OFFICIAL COMMENCEMENT OF THE TRACK LAYING OF ABUJA (IDU)-KADUNA RAILWAY MODERNIZATION IN ABUJA (NAN)

The contractors handling the Abuja-Kaduna rail project, China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) said 70 per cent of the construction works has been achieved in the last three years just as it assured that it will meet up with the December 2014 completion date.

A representative of CCECC, James Lee, who made this known on Saturday while briefing members of the National Good Governance Tour (NGGT) during an inspection of the Jere Section of the rail line, said the project did not suffer any setbacks as there was no land acquisition problem on the 186 kilometer of land being used to implement the project.

The Federal Director of Railways, Engr. Barau Gafar said that the project was initially awarded in 2006 to run from Lagos to Kano.

He, however, noted that government decided to segment it to six parts namely Lagos to Ibadan, Ibadan to Ilorin, Ilorin to Minna, Minna to Abuja, Abuja to Kaduna.

The director equally revealed that government decided to commence with two segments which are Lagos to Ibadan and Abuja to Kaduna.

“We started Abuja to Kaduna in the year 2010 precisely. The contract was awarded to CCECC at total cost of 849 million US dollars”, he said.

Gafar said when completed, the trains would run at a speed of 120km to 150 km per hour, and anyone living in Kaduna will be able to travel to Abuja in approximately 45 minutes to one hour.

Also speaking, the NUJ President, Mohammed Garba, who was part of the NGGT team, noted that the implementation of the project is enjoying funding from the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).

“I remember that we (members of the railways committee) came here about two months ago on inspection and believe you me, coming here today, I have seen a lot of progress on this project”, Garba stated.

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