FG Approves $3.02bn For PH-Maiduguri Rail Line
By Our CorrespondentThe Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Eastern Narrow Gauge.
The cost of the project was put at $3.02 billion.
The decision was taken at the weekly meeting of the council presided over by the President, Muhammadu Buhari.
Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Amaechi also told reporters that the council approved the construction of a deep seaport at Bonny and a railway industrial park in Port Harcourt at a cost of $703.1 million.
He however said the two projects would be at no cost to the Federal Government, saying they would be funded through a Public-Private Partnership arrangement.
He said the industrial park would gulp $241.2 million while the Bonny Deep Seaport would gulp $461.9 million.
The minister said, “The Federal Executive Council has approved the award of contracts for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri eastern narrow guage railway, with new branch lines and trans-shipment facilities.
“The council also approved the construction of a new deep seaport in Bonny, under PPP and the construction of a railway industrial park in Port Harcourt.
” The Port Harcourt to Maiduguri narrow gauge railway will have new branch lines: from Port Harcourt to Bonny and from Port Harcourt to Owerri are new lines.
“There is another connecting to narrow gauge to standard guage at Kafanchan”, the Minister said.
