Minister of Transportation, Rt Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has announced plans by the Federal Government to construct the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Rail line.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari has also approved the building of two new seaports.
One in Bonny, Rivers State and the other in Warri, Delta State.
Amaechi expressed the assurances of President Muhammadu Buhari to reconstruct the entire stretch of the rail line with a spur to a railway industrial park in Port Harcourt which has been added to the design.
Amaechi spoke during the Deloitte in dialogue: Nigeria Economic Outlook 2020, held at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos, Tuesday, on the topic, “Railway Infrastructure: Progress and Plan.”
He said: “We will provide railway from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri. The President has assured me. We are discussing and announcement would be made on the project soon.
“The President has also approved the construction of two new seaports. One in Bonny and another in Warri. The first deep seaport we will have in Nigeria is already being built in Lekki. There’s one being proposed by the Akwa Ibom State government. I think they call it Ibom Seaport. I’ve told them to bring it and I’ll give them all the backing they need.
“I tell people that this government is by far more business friendly. We would leave as much infrastructure for Nigeria.”
On improving transportation of goods and services across the country, the Minister said: “Nigerians are mostly particular about human transportation, how they can commute from Lagos to Ibadan daily, but the most important is actually for moving cargo to enhance productivity. Lagos to Kano rail is capable of moving 30 million tons of Cargo from Lagos to Kano, while Port Harcourt to Maiduguri can take 11 million tons of cargo.
“We would also look at policy to ensure that after building the railways, there are certain cargoes that will not be allowed on the roads, to encourage movement of cargo on the rail lines and to ensure that our roads last longer… Moving cargo across the country through rail would be cheaper and faster than the roads.”
Amaechi added that the just completed Warri-Itakpe rail line, which was the first standard guage rail line in Nigeria, “was started about 34 years ago, abandoned, and now we have completed it, built stations, 1000 housing units for staff, workshops, all ready.”
For maritime security, Amaechi said: “We are trying to put in place three helicopters, two airplanes, four to six drones, 24 hours, we will be in the air, watching Nigerian waters from Lagos to Calabar, training soldiers, because this time, we said not just the Navy, we want soldiers to come in, we want SSS, police, we want Airforce to come in; so for 24 hours, from my office, I can see Nigerian waters from beginning to the end”.
