Nigerians who often feel unsafe in
Nigeria’s airspace and yet cannot endure a nine-hour road trip between
Lagos and Abuja, have received cheery news from the federal government
who announced the planned take-off of a three-hour high-speed train
project between the two cities.
Announcing this in Abuja on Wednesday,
the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, disclosed the federal
government’s partnership arrangements with private firms within and
outside Nigeria towards the commencement of the project.
Umar made this disclosure at the public
presentation of a book, “Showcasing Goodluck Jonathan’s Monumental
Strides: A Third Party Perspective,” authored by the Director-General of
Citizens Network For Peace and Development in Nigeria, Mr. Dressmann
Preye.
According to Umar who also said the
Abuja-Kaduna rail project would commence full operation next month, the
federal government equally carried out a number of feasibility studies
with the plan to construct more standard gauge lines across the country.
He disclosed that the government had
also successfully completed feasibility studies in seven new corridors
including, the Abuja-Lagos high speed train adding that different
private firms within and outside Nigeria have expressed interests in the
project. The project, largely expected to be private sector-driven,
according Umar, would formally take-off in 2018,
“The consultants who carried out the
feasibility studies have submitted their reports. Part of the report
contains the involvement of the private sector to drive the project.
This is because we want to develop these lines under a public, private
partnership arrangements.
“We have already received a lot of
expression of interests even ahead of advertisement for the purpose from
various companies in the country and indeed, in other countries of the
world.
“The idea is that, if we have this in
place, the trains can move from Abuja to Lagos and from Lagos to Abuja
in a maximum of three hours. We are intending to compete favourably with
other transportation systems in carrying passengers from Abuja to
Lagos.
“When fully actualised, a train will
leave Abuja to Lagos and Lagos to Abuja, every hour. The feasibility
studies had been completed, it is not a question of story. The trains
will start running within the next three years, say by 2018.”
He further explained that the federal
government had completed the rehabilitation of western rail lines
through the administration’s revivalist strategy in the rail transport
sector, insisting that Jonathan’s government is working towards the
completion of the eastern line.
He said: “At the moment, the trains are
moving from Port Harcourt all the way to Gombe – a distance of over 1,
000 kilometres but as soon as the security situation improves around
Borno State, we will complete the line from Gombe to Maiduguri.
“While that is going on, we have
constructed the standard gauge from Abuja to Kaduna. We have completed
the laying of the track and very soon, President Goodluck Jonathan will
inaugurate it and by March this year, we are going to commence full
operation on that line.
“We have placed orders for the
procurement of locomotives and coaches that we are going to deploy on
the track. It is a standard gauge. The trains can move on an average
speed of 150 kilometres per hour.
“That means that in a maximum of one and
half hours, you can leave Kaduna for Abuja and from Abuja to Kaduna by
rail. It is the first standard gauge to be completed fully in the whole
of West Africa.”
He used the forum to drum support
campaign for the re-election of the president for another term of four
years, saying his re-election, would offer him the full fledged
opportunity to complete the projects in the works.
Also speaking at the occasion, Preye,
the author of the book, said the contents were drawn by a team of
independent media practitioners as well as representatives of civil
society organisations whom he said carried out an on-the-spot assessment
of all projects executed by Jonathan’s government.
“I am convinced that this book, will
serve not only as a research material but also, a proof that the
transformation agenda is working and is yielding fruits,” he claimed.
In his submission, the book reviewer,
Dr. Casimir Anyanwu, accompanied by his wife, Senator Chris Anyanwu,
said the book embodied the landmark achievements of Jonathan’s
government in 15 critical sectors of the economy.
Such areas where he said federal
government’s footprints had been visible were macro-economic management
strategies; trade and Investment policies; infrastructure development;
agricultural transformation; oil and gas industry reforms; power and
renewable energy; education and health reforms, among others.
Source:- This Day Live
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