By Ogechi Okorie
Kano (Precise Post) – Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has revealed the motivation behind his Hardwork to the rail infrastructure in Nigeria.
According to Amaechi, the motivation for the work he is putting in to ensure the rail infrastructure in the country is developed is national interest.
Amaechi made the assertion during an inspection of the Kano-Lagos rail project on Friday while fielding questions from Journalists.
The Minister said if funded, the project will be completed by May 2023. He further said due to the delay in accessing the loan, the project is currently being funded from the budget.
“We agree that if we fund them, they must complete the work. They must do what they agree that they will do. The conversation we had with them is that they must break this work into parts so that everybody will be working at the same time. If they do that, I am sure that before May, 2023 we will have commercial activity on the track”.
Speaking on the importance of the Kano-Lagos rail project, Amaechi said it would boost commercial activities between Kano and Lagos as goods manufactured in Kano will be sent easily to Lagos while goods imported through Lagos can be sent to Kano easily. He also said job creation as well as increase in the value of land within the area are some of the benefits to the indigenes.
Reacting to the use of local materials to cut cost, the Minister said the Federal government is doing all it can to ensure that as much as possible,the money borrowed from the chinese does not all return back to them therefore both manpower and materials where possible are sourced locally.
He said the contractors had been asked to break the work into portions and have men working on all at the same time to ensure timely completion of the project.
Recall that Amaechi will tomorrow in Katsina be Turbaned as Dan Amana of Daura.
