Lagos – Ibadan Rail Line: Amaechi directs CCECC to complete Iju – Abeokuta Rail Project In Two Weeks
By Oru Leonard
The Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has directed China Civil Engineer Construction Company (CCECC) to complete Lagos Ibadan raii project, especially Iju in Lagos state to Agbado at Abeokuta in Ogun state within two weeks.
The Minister of Transportation, Hon, Amaechi who gave the directive in Lagos during the inspection of the project on January 4, 2019 said that the early completion of the project was to ensure that citizens enjoy the benefit of cheap railway transportation.
He however frowned at the pace of work at the Iju – Agbado section of the Lagos Rail line axis by the contractor and said that though the contract period for Lagos – Ibadan rail project is three years, but CCECC can deliver much earlier.
Hon. Amaechi acknowledged the CCECC is trying even as he was pushing the contractors hard so that passengers can start enjoying the train ride from Iju – Abeokuta.
On the deadline with the pace of work, Amaechi said “Why not wait. I may be pushing them a bit hard but you will agree with me that there is a huge improvement. You will agree that the contract is three years and they are still doing one year plus and I want things done immediately before the three years. They had few arguments when we had the meeting, employing more hands is not the problem, the problem is equipment for the more hands to use. What you saw from Agbado to Iju is not a matter of hand, it is a matter of equipment.”
He expressed mixed feelings at the pace of work between Iju – Agbado Agbado. ‘I have mixed feelings because getting to Abeokuta, you will see that there is an improvement, the problem they have now is the civil works between Agbado and Iju which is critical to me because I don’t think passengers should go to Agbado to pick the train.
I believe that the closer we are to Lagos, the better for the rail, that’s what we are battling now. There is a huge improvement up to here.
They are now at DK 77 and we are at DK 79, meaning that in the next one to two weeks they should get to this point and try to get to the tunnel then I also want them to get the same speed in the construction from Agbado to Iju. We agree that there are human factor and people have our right of way as their road
“The moment we do the section from Iju to the sea port, then most of those goods, especially the ones gong to Ibadan will be on the rail lines.”, he said.
When asked whether the government was being pressured by Nigerians to complete the rail project, Amaechi replied, “Of course, and it is also because of the speed for it takes you about 30 minutes by rail from Lagos to Ibadan as against over one hour by road. And this is subsidised.”
The minister noted that the pace of work at the Ibadan axis was equally not encouraging. Adding that, despite the focus at the Lagos-Abeokuta section, what he saw at Ibadan wasn’t enough.
He revealed that although the focus now is on the completion of the project but about thirty perssenger coaches, three hundred wagons and then, two sets of coaches will be redeployed from Agbor, Delta State for test running of the ongoing project.
Amaechi noted that budget for equipment of 42 Billion Naira was signed but that is not an off-the-shelf equipment, “You have to apply for them overseas and wait for it to be shipped down. So if you wait for those equipment by the time it arrives, they would have probably finished the job’ he said.
