Nigeria’s minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on Monday, said $1.9billion will be used for the construction of the Kano-Katsina-Jibya-Maradi railway leading to Niger Republic, a neighbouring country to Nigeria. The ground breaking ceremony was virtually presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari from the state house on Tuesday.
The transportation minister told Channels Television programme on politics today anchored by Seun that the funds will be sourced from Europe as loan and that plans are at advanced stages of receiving the funds.
He, however, said repayment plans are not within the purview of his transportation ministry but the ministry of finance. His job, according to him, is to liaise with the ministry of finance on how to source for the funds but repayment plan not his to determine.
He said the objective of the rail line is to make Nigeria competitive in the West African regional market. He said many West African countries are not interested in using road to enter Nigeria for many reasons. He said most parts of the roads are bad, there are criminals in them, there are so many police check points, coupled with immigration and so much custom duties.
Specifically, he said there is no special interest in Niger Republic but all for the good of Nigeria and Nigerians and to make Nigerian market competitive among West African countries.
When asked on the speed of the train between Lagos and Ibadan and Abuja to Kaduna, he said the ministry is limiting speed between Lagos and Iju to between 17 and 20km per hour while between Abuja and Kaduna is 90km per hour.
He gave reasons for the variation in speed. He said people trade along the rail line between Lagos and Iju, hence the speed has to be slow so as not to kill humans on the rail line and also that of Abuja Kaduna is so to avoid running into cows because they are many along the Northern route.
He added that for the safety of humans and the cows, the ministry will fence off the rail line to reduce interference of animals and man on the railway.
