How Coronavirus Outbreak is Delaying Completion Of Lagos – Ibadan Rail Project- Amaechi

The minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has explained how the Corona virus outbreak is affecting the speedy completion of Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

Amaechi disclosed this on Wednesday while addressing participants at the central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) consultative round table.

According to Amaechi, the project would have been completed in May but might not be feasible anymore because the contractors handling the project are employees of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).

“Lagos-Ibadan would have been ready in May. Unfortunately, nearly all of them that went for the Chinese New year were quarantined by their government. Their government said they cannot come back until they find a solution to the Coronavirus. “it is only those who didn’t travel that are here and therefore the speed of the construction has reduced,” he said.

In November 2019, the minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi assured that the project would be delivered by April 2020.

He, however, took to his twitter handle in January 2020 to lament the pace of work done by the contractors. “looking at the state of work in Apapa, completing the project in April doesn’t seem feasible, especially the extension of the rail line to the seaport. We’ll, however, continue to work and redouble our efforts to complete the project and meet set targets. #LagosIbadanRail#, he tweeted in January 2020.

The minister at the CBN roundtable also lamented that Nigerians have politicised railway project, noting that, “everybody wants a railway in his village without bothering to ask, what is the relevance of railway in my village?”.

Source: channels television.