The China government will by October 2020 release up to $ 5.3bn for the commencement of the construction of the Ibadan-Kano rail line, which is a part of the 2,700-km Lagos–Kano standard gauge railway line project in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi disclosed this during a special broadcast program on Channels Television to mark the country’s Democracy Day.
The Chinese government had earlier released US$ 1.6bn for the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge railway .
Amaechi further informed that President Buhari had directed the release of US$ 318M as part of the 15% counterpart funding for the construction of Ibadan-Kano railway while more funds would be released in the coming year.
He also disclosed that government was able to pay compensation at commercial rates and not government rates to people and investment affected by the Lagos-Ibadan railway project.
The Lagos-Ibadan rail line segment was originally planned for completion in May 2020 while the Ibadan to Kano construction was projected to commence June or July. These plans were suspended due to COVID-19 emergency.
On the Bonny-Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line, the Minister said the ministry intend to seek approval for implementation before the end of July.
“The same condition applies to the Bonny deep seaport and the industrial park at Port Harcourt,” he said.
