Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has attributed the slow pace of work on the ongoing construction of Lagos – Ibadan standard gauge railway to funding.
The minister stated this late on Friday while inspecting the project.
Amaechi added that the slow pace of work was also a result of the dissolution of the previous cabinet when their tenure lapsed and there was no minister to approve payment of funds to the contractor.
He, however, promised that the issue would be resolved as soon as possible, so that the contractor could continue with the construction.
The 157-kilometre rail project was awarded in 2017 to Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) to the tune of $1.6 billion with a three-year completion agreement.
“Our target is that they should hurry and get into the seaport so that they can evacuate the goods at the port and, at least, reduce what people refer to as Apapa gridlock. That can only happen when goods begin to be moved by train.
“We have also agreed with them to have two major ground-breaking ceremonies between September and October. First is the University of Transportation, Daura, which is going to be done in September; and the second is an equipment manufacturing plant in Kajola, which will be done in October,” he said.
