FG approves $3.9bn for Warri seaport

Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, said the federal government has approved the construction for Warri seaport at a cost of $3.9 billion and also awarded contract for Abuja-Warri rail line.
Amaechi disclosed on Tuesday in Abuja that government also approved the linking of Abuja to Itakpe, Itakpe-Warri, then from Warri rail to the seaport.
“The President awarded the contract for Abuja to Warri, Abuja to Itakpe, then to Warri. From Warri rail to the seaport. We are building a new seaport in Warri, the cabinet approved it last week, that is about $3.9 billion,” he said.
He, however, said that about $45 billion was needed to complete rail development in the country.
He said that once Lagos-Kano, Port Harcourt-Maduguri, Lagos-Calabar and Abuja-Warri rail lines were constructed, the rail would have covered the country.
According to him, government has not spent over $3 billion so far on all the ongoing projects.
“The Lagos-Ibadan will cost about $1.6 billion, that doesn’t include the extra cost of things we didn’t prepare for or see in the evaluation; Abuja-Kaduna was constructed with about $1billion.
“We also paid $500 million to buy locomotives and rolling stocks for Lagos-Ibadan, I can’t remember how much we spent buying rolling stocks for Kaduna-Abuja, that is what we have spent so far.
“So all the noise that you hear people saying we have spent $8 billion is not true. I don’t think we have spent up to $3 billion so far. Railway is capital intensive, a trillion naira is about $2.7 billion.
“And that is for 200km of railway, if you plan to do Lagos-Ibadan and you are looking at $8.7 billion that is between N3 and N4 trillion. That is why I said we will need about $35 to $45 billion.
“To be able to do Lagos-Kano, Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, Lagos-Calabar and Abuja-Warri, once we do these four tracks, we have covered the country and we have solved the problems of transportation to a great extent”.