presidency:
KANO-MARADI RAIL: AMAECHI MEETS GERMAN FINANCING ADVISORY, VISITS MAJOR MOTA-ENGIL RAIL SITE IN PORTUGAL

...Holds Bi-Lateral talks at the Portuguese foreign office

Minister of Transportation, Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has met with the financing advisory for the construction of Kano-Maradi rail line, seeking a speed-up of the process to ensure construction begins as soon as possible.

In the meeting held at the Nigerian Embassy, Berlin with representatives of KfW-IPEX bank of Germany who are serving as an advisory in partnership with African Finance Corporation for the Kano-Maradi rail project, Amaechi stated that the ECAs (Export Credit Agencies) are free to come to Nigeria and become part of the process on ground to ensure that everything follows their recommenced practices and avert hiccups in the course of the project.

Following their concerns on resettlement of villages that may be impacted by the construction, Amaechi assured that Nigeria has laws in place for that and that the Ministry of Transportation ensured that the right of way was distant from the villages except in Kano where it is difficult to totally avoid the town.

“For us in the Ministry of Transportation, in choosing the right of way, we avoided communities. If we don’t do that, we’ll clear the entire Kano. Like in Lagos, we avoided communities and used the old line, because if we had to choose a different route we would pay billions. In fact, to even work from the old line, we paid 7 billion naira in compensations, not because the people had the right to the land, but because after 12 years and nothing is done it becomes their land and you just can’t chase them out. We still paid compensation, because the rail line was moribund. To eject them we still had to treat them as though they were the original owners of the land. We didn’t wait for Europe. That’s our law.

“In Kano-Maradi, we also took into consideration the people, we choose the right of way distant from the communities, which makes it even more expensive, because government will have to do access roads from the rail line into the communities. We did that because of environmental issues, but the Europeans want us to assume that there are people living along the route. There are none, apart from Kano.

“I don’t know what the law is in Europe in terms of your ESIA. We’ve taken the first step by giving notice, we have assessed the land. What we have not done is payment, because the payment is tied to the contract. On our part, we are ready. What I want to know is the next step to paying compensation, to know that the project is going on and that we can create employment.

The Managing Director/Global Head, Aviation Mobility and Transport, KfW-IPEX Bank, Dr Carsten Wiebers expressed belief that the Nigerian government will be able to manage the risk with pay back of the loan. He advised that the process of putting in place the consulting firms for the project should be sped-up to facilitate financing, while documentation of the process should be properly done.

“Given the fast timeline of 15months, I would recommend speeding up the process of putting in place the consulting companies and other terms of references are met to facilitate the financing. Of course the first level of requirement is your national regulation and law. You take care of that.

“What we are trying to do is create a bridge between your interests and the demands of the Export Credit Agencies, to guarantee we get an affordable loan for you. There has to be evidence of the working group in the areas where the rail would be (actual site) all the way to Kano to convince the decision makers of the ECAs.

“Personally I'm comfortable with your timeline. You dictate the speed of the construction with Mota-Engil. There needs to be an international representative on the site to avoid hiccups with the ECAs. The problem I think is documentation and communication. The process needs to be properly documented and certified,” Wiebers said.

The Director, Mobility and Transport, KfW-IPEX Bank, Sylvia Sedlacek, assured that a consortium of consultants are already working on the ESIA and would come up with the report soon, while a working group has been formed and is in talks with the Nigerian Ministries of Environment, Transportation and Housing on the Environment and social study of the are.

On his part, Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, Yusuf Tuggar explained that the Ministry of Environment in Nigeria started as the Environmental protection agency which also came about through conventions and series of stakeholders meetings, locally and internationally. So they are naturally inclined to abide by the regulations.

Earlier, the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi with a team from the Ministry and officials of the Nigerian Embassy in Portugal toured a major rail project site by Mota-Engil to ascertain their capacity to construct the Kano-Maradi rail within the stated timeframe of 15 months.

The project, ‘Corredor International Sul - Ligação Freixo/Alandroal’ also known as Evora line is a 78km rail project to unite the Port of Sines all the way to Spain. The 20km extension being handled by Mota-Engil has 10 bridges, one of which is a 600m Bridge - the longest in the line, 11 overhead bridges (over passage), 5 underpasses (1 for cars, finished within 2 days of nonstop work, and a total of 800 workers on the project.

The site Engineer, Luis Mota explained that the project of that magnitude is one of the fastest within 19 months.
Amaechi however demanded that the Kano-Maradi project be faster as it is an EPC, “by now you should have finished your backend engineering and design,” he said. Amaechi further called for a meeting in Abuja in the first week of January to identify all the challenges and ensure that the contractor follows the plan.

At the Nigerian Embassy in Lisbon, the Ambassador, Alex Kefas expressed joy that the country is moving forward. According to him, “I have never seen massive railway projects in Nigeria until he (Amaechi) became Minister. We are grateful he is doing very well. We just finished a meeting with the secretary of internalisation which will help in boosting our bilateral relations. At the bilateral meeting, they assured us of their support in achieving this project (Kano-Maradi).

“I recently paid a courtesy call on Mota-Engil at their Headquarters in Porto and they paid a courtesy call to me here at the embassy. I assured them of speedy visa issuance to ensure that the project in Nigeria is completed speedily,” he said.

Both the Minister and the Ambassador were at the Portuguese foreign ministry for bilateral talks and both nations agreed to be of help to one another. The Portugese Secretary of State for Internalisation affairs, Mr. Eurico Brilhante Dias assured the Minister of Portugal’s support and cooperation to ensure that the project by Mota-Engil is completed without hitches.


Eric Orjiekwe
Director, Press & PR
December 23, 2021

Another avenue by APC to syphon funds to finance 2023 elections. We are waiting!

Everyone get their own time....

Why is this administration bent on spending our resources on things that have no economic benefits for Nigeria?

chiemmanuel:
Can someone explain to me the economic impact of building a railway to Niger republic?

Other regions in Nigeria are still using locomotive run by coal

We have not developed our country,we are developing another country

For Niger and to import and export through Nigeria because they do not have seaport

Kano to makurdi would have been better

BafanaBafana:
Whoever came up with this idea is wise. Niger being a landlocked country get most of its goods from Nigeria through our ports. With rail transport cargo trains will be available thereby boosting business. Almost everyone coming in will be to buy goods. Nigeria will gain last last.

Smh! How much does Niger have to spend in Nigeria?

Even Buhari confirmed there is no economic gain. It is only a billion dollar project to reunite "lost cousins".
The video is there for review.

A most questionable project...

Gen Buhari still constructing this to link up with 'his cousins' in Niger Republic.

These dudes are still on this useless Nigeria - Niger rail project. Their undue persistence to executing this project despite the resistance of Nigerians and even to the extent of borrowing money in the name of Nigerians to construct a rail in favour of Niger tends to validate some allegations from some quarters.

Allegation that there is a supposed body double of PMB who stepped in soon after the latter "died and was buried in Saudi Arabia" . It was then rumoured that the guy (body double) made demands as remuneration for his services. His demands were to be as follows:

° His families will be enriched beyond measure by the Nigerian government.
° A percentage of the oil earnings in Nigeria will accrue to his home country Niger.
° The Nigerian government will construct projects for his home country on the tab of Nigerian earnings as if the country is an annex of Nigeria.

I laughed off all these theories then. But few months after that news, I begun to witness a number of things that almost confused me the more, if not that I am not gullible.

1. The opening of Niger-Nigerian border for the massive influx of immigrants (allegedly Nigeriens who are mostly Fulanis) into Nigeria. Meanwhile the southern Nigerian border was declared shut.

2. The proposal by one governor like that to integrate Fulanis Africa-wide as Nigerians as according to him, " a Fulani man can be a national of any country". The intention then was to use the NIN. It is being speculated in many quarters that this plan is being carried out surreptitiously since Isa Pantami, a Fulani patron and a Fulani man himself is in charge of the agency that constitutionally carried out the process.

3. The way the government ignored allegations that kidnapping and insecurity in the North are perpetrated to a worrisome percentage on immigrant terrorists and cow rustlers coming in from Niger and who are even Fulanis themselves (only they are from Niger)

4. The proposal by the presidency to construct a Nigerian-owned refinery in Ghana, while the ones within Nigeria are left to rot away and swallowed billions of Naira in TAM.

5. Now this issue of railway from Nigeria to Niger. An infrastructure with no know economic advantage to Nigeria or Nigerians except it is an advantage to a less prosperous Niger. The sheer massive volume of sales and economic activities between Nigeria ro Cameroon or between Nigeria to Cotonou does not deserve rail infrastructure, but a non-productive Northern neighbouring country deserves.

This Amaechi sef
Did someone deceive him that railway would end all our woes?

So, let's count, shall we?.

How many universities, Polytechnics, and technical colleges do we have in Nigeria again?.
And they are all teaching and yearly graduating students in Civil engineering, Mechanical engineering, Electrical engineering, etc.
But we have to import the Chinese, and now Central Europe's weakest in terms of engineering and economy to do that for which we supposedly have professors littering the space.

What happened to our HND, B.Sc, and M.Sc holders?. How about our Ph.D's?.

Shame on Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

Another LOST soul wasting tax payers money perambulating the globe with absolutely NOTHING to show for it. What a shameless TERRORIST FULANI lackey!

chiemmanuel:
Can someone explain to me the economic impact of building a railway to Niger republic?

Other regions in Nigeria are still using locomotive run by coal

We have not developed our country,we are developing another country

Some business men in Niger Republic, Mali, and Burkina Faso use Lagos port for their import and Nigeria generate money from it and when completed, it will serve domestic industries and play the role of a viable transportation backbone to the West African subregion, starting with the neighbouring Niger Republic for their export and import logistic chain.

In 2013, Jonathan’s govt unveiled plans to build rail line to Niger Republic
The government of then-president Goodluck Jonathan had announced plans to construct a rail line from Zaria in Kaduna state to Niamey, the capital of Niger Republic.
Then-Vice President Namadi Sambo, who made the announcement, had said the rail line will run through Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi states.
Now that the project has returned to the limelight, the president said it was part of a masterplan in an agreement signed in 2015 between Nigeria and Niger, and coordinated by the Nigeria-Niger Joint Commission for Cooperation.

https://www.thecable.ng/flashback-in-2013-jonathans-govt-unveiled-plans-to-build-rail-line-to-niger-republic/amp

Kelvinpam:


Smh! How much does Niger have to spend in Nigeria?

Even Buhari confirmed there is no economic gain. It is only a billion dollar project to reunite "lost cousins".
The video is there for review.

Wetin you no know pass you

A project the president said he's doing because of his cousins and relations in Niger. That the project Amaechi is spending so much time and energy to deceive people that he wants to do it.

ArewaNorth:

Some business men in Niger Republic, Mali, and Burkina Faso use Lagos port for their import and Nigeria generate money from it and when completed, it will serve domestic industries and play the role of a viable transportation backbone to the West African subregion, starting with the neighbouring Niger Republic for their export and import logistic chain.

In 2013, Jonathan’s govt unveiled plans to build rail line to Niger Republic
The government of then-president Goodluck Jonathan had announced plans to construct a rail line from Zaria in Kaduna state to Niamey, the capital of Niger Republic.
Then-Vice President Namadi Sambo, who made the announcement, had said the rail line will run through Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi states.
Now that the project has returned to the limelight, the president said it was part of a masterplan in an agreement signed in 2015 between Nigeria and Niger, and coordinated by the Nigeria-Niger Joint Commission for Cooperation.

https://www.thecable.ng/flashback-in-2013-jonathans-govt-unveiled-plans-to-build-rail-line-to-niger-republic/amp

Niger republic should be in charge of whatever goes on in their country

Biodun556:


For Niger and to import and export through Nigeria because they do not have seaport

must it be Nigeria building in Niger republic

talktimi:
Amaechi na big mumu

You are wrong!! He is the smartest politician in Nigeria. Shey u wan know how much dey involved in the projects?? Billions of Dollars ooo

chiemmanuel:
must it be Nigeria building in Niger republic

It will stop at their border

BafanaBafana:
Whoever came up with this idea is wise. Niger being a landlocked country get most of its goods from Nigeria through our ports. With rail transport cargo trains will be available thereby boosting business. Almost everyone coming in will be to buy goods. Nigeria will gain last last.

Someone whose mind functions beyond tribal/religious sentiments.

chiemmanuel:
Can someone explain to me the economic impact of building a railway to Niger republic?

Other regions in Nigeria are still using locomotive run by coal

We have not developed our country,we are developing another country

Most of our past leaders are from there or chad

DamnNigga
Isoright!!

What is buhari' portrait doing on Portuguese wall ??

Guyman02:
The total annual GDP of Niger Republic is $14B, the total GDP of Anambra and Delta States is more than $30B each, but somebody feels that because he has cousins residing in Maradi he has to do a $2B railway to link them up first before Anambra and Delta States which brings part of the oil revenues used to build the rail project.

This is the wickedness and injustice that engenders animosity and hate for ‘one Nigeria’! Imagine the impunity and arrogance it takes to build a railway to link up with ones cousins in another country while regions/states in Nigeria have to wait in line until Niger Republic gets theirs first! Then some will still wonder why i’m not joining them to shout ‘one Nigeria’ from the rooftops!

A Igbo President can’t do to the Fulani and Yoruba even 10% of what this wicked gov’t is doing to Igbos without being impeached or denied a second term in office! GEJs travails shows you all you need to know about these people and their level of intolerance!

Biodun556:


It will stop at their border

Maradi is in Niger republic

00FFT00:
So, let's count, shall we?.

How many universities, Polytechnics, and technical colleges do we have in Nigeria again?.
And they are all teaching and yearly graduating students in Civil engineering, Mechanical engineering, Electrical engineering, etc.
But we have to import the Chinese, and now Central Europe's weakest in terms of engineering and economy to do that for which we supposedly have professors littering the space.

What happened to our HND, B.Sc, and M.Sc holders?. How about our Ph.D's?.

Shame on Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

what's your qualification?

IGBOSON1:


This is the wickedness and injustice that engenders animosity and hate for ‘one Nigeria’! Imagine the impunity and arrogance it takes to build a railway to link up with ones cousins in another country while regions/states in Nigeria have to wait in line until Niger Republic gets theirs first! Then some will still wonder why i’m not joining them to shout ‘one Nigeria’ from the rooftops!

A Igbo President can’t do to the Fulani and Yoruba even 10% of what this wicked gov’t is doing to Igbos without being impeached or denied a second term in office! GEJs travails shows you all you need to know about these people and their level of intolerance!

But Amaechi also recently announced that the Lagos-Calabar rail would begin January. Also, some of these West African countries around Niger are landlocked and they would use this rather than the Lagos ports which they are dependent on. Also we must find a way to bring the likes of Niger, Mali, Chad close because we could benefit from their resources as well mutually with them, but at the moment it's the French who are exploiting their resources.

God bless Amaechi! God bless Nigeria!!!

GDP of just South West is far more better than that of Niger Republic. Why not connect North with South South south and South East instead of connecting landlocked Niger with Northern Nigeria.
An average Nigerien hate Nigerians wether you are Muslim Or Christian.
This so called Kano/Maradi railway proposed by PMB has cleared aged long Speculation that Buhari is original from Niger Republic.

[s]

presidency:
KANO-MARADI RAIL: AMAECHI MEETS GERMAN FINANCING ADVISORY, VISITS MAJOR MOTA-ENGIL RAIL SITE IN PORTUGAL

...Holds Bi-Lateral talks at the Portuguese foreign office

Minister of Transportation, Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has met with the financing advisory for the construction of Kano-Maradi rail line, seeking a speed-up of the process to ensure construction begins as soon as possible.

In the meeting held at the Nigerian Embassy, Berlin with representatives of KfW-IPEX bank of Germany who are serving as an advisory in partnership with African Finance Corporation for the Kano-Maradi rail project, Amaechi stated that the ECAs (Export Credit Agencies) are free to come to Nigeria and become part of the process on ground to ensure that everything follows their recommenced practices and avert hiccups in the course of the project.

Following their concerns on resettlement of villages that may be impacted by the construction, Amaechi assured that Nigeria has laws in place for that and that the Ministry of Transportation ensured that the right of way was distant from the villages except in Kano where it is difficult to totally avoid the town.

“For us in the Ministry of Transportation, in choosing the right of way, we avoided communities. If we don’t do that, we’ll clear the entire Kano. Like in Lagos, we avoided communities and used the old line, because if we had to choose a different route we would pay billions. In fact, to even work from the old line, we paid 7 billion naira in compensations, not because the people had the right to the land, but because after 12 years and nothing is done it becomes their land and you just can’t chase them out. We still paid compensation, because the rail line was moribund. To eject them we still had to treat them as though they were the original owners of the land. We didn’t wait for Europe. That’s our law.

“In Kano-Maradi, we also took into consideration the people, we choose the right of way distant from the communities, which makes it even more expensive, because government will have to do access roads from the rail line into the communities. We did that because of environmental issues, but the Europeans want us to assume that there are people living along the route. There are none, apart from Kano.

“I don’t know what the law is in Europe in terms of your ESIA. We’ve taken the first step by giving notice, we have assessed the land. What we have not done is payment, because the payment is tied to the contract. On our part, we are ready. What I want to know is the next step to paying compensation, to know that the project is going on and that we can create employment.

The Managing Director/Global Head, Aviation Mobility and Transport, KfW-IPEX Bank, Dr Carsten Wiebers expressed belief that the Nigerian government will be able to manage the risk with pay back of the loan. He advised that the process of putting in place the consulting firms for the project should be sped-up to facilitate financing, while documentation of the process should be properly done.

“Given the fast timeline of 15months, I would recommend speeding up the process of putting in place the consulting companies and other terms of references are met to facilitate the financing. Of course the first level of requirement is your national regulation and law. You take care of that.

“What we are trying to do is create a bridge between your interests and the demands of the Export Credit Agencies, to guarantee we get an affordable loan for you. There has to be evidence of the working group in the areas where the rail would be (actual site) all the way to Kano to convince the decision makers of the ECAs.

“Personally I'm comfortable with your timeline. You dictate the speed of the construction with Mota-Engil. There needs to be an international representative on the site to avoid hiccups with the ECAs. The problem I think is documentation and communication. The process needs to be properly documented and certified,” Wiebers said.

The Director, Mobility and Transport, KfW-IPEX Bank, Sylvia Sedlacek, assured that a consortium of consultants are already working on the ESIA and would come up with the report soon, while a working group has been formed and is in talks with the Nigerian Ministries of Environment, Transportation and Housing on the Environment and social study of the are.

On his part, Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, Yusuf Tuggar explained that the Ministry of Environment in Nigeria started as the Environmental protection agency which also came about through conventions and series of stakeholders meetings, locally and internationally. So they are naturally inclined to abide by the regulations.

Earlier, the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi with a team from the Ministry and officials of the Nigerian Embassy in Portugal toured a major rail project site by Mota-Engil to ascertain their capacity to construct the Kano-Maradi rail within the stated timeframe of 15 months.

The project, ‘Corredor International Sul - Ligação Freixo/Alandroal’ also known as Evora line is a 78km rail project to unite the Port of Sines all the way to Spain. The 20km extension being handled by Mota-Engil has 10 bridges, one of which is a 600m Bridge - the longest in the line, 11 overhead bridges (over passage), 5 underpasses (1 for cars, finished within 2 days of nonstop work, and a total of 800 workers on the project.

The site Engineer, Luis Mota explained that the project of that magnitude is one of the fastest within 19 months.
Amaechi however demanded that the Kano-Maradi project be faster as it is an EPC, “by now you should have finished your backend engineering and design,” he said. Amaechi further called for a meeting in Abuja in the first week of January to identify all the challenges and ensure that the contractor follows the plan.

At the Nigerian Embassy in Lisbon, the Ambassador, Alex Kefas expressed joy that the country is moving forward. According to him, “I have never seen massive railway projects in Nigeria until he (Amaechi) became Minister. We are grateful he is doing very well. We just finished a meeting with the secretary of internalisation which will help in boosting our bilateral relations. At the bilateral meeting, they assured us of their support in achieving this project (Kano-Maradi).

“I recently paid a courtesy call on Mota-Engil at their Headquarters in Porto and they paid a courtesy call to me here at the embassy. I assured them of speedy visa issuance to ensure that the project in Nigeria is completed speedily,” he said.

Both the Minister and the Ambassador were at the Portuguese foreign ministry for bilateral talks and both nations agreed to be of help to one another. The Portugese Secretary of State for Internalisation affairs, Mr. Eurico Brilhante Dias assured the Minister of Portugal’s support and cooperation to ensure that the project by Mota-Engil is completed without hitches.


Eric Orjiekwe
Director, Press & PR
December 23, 2021

[/s]

Trash.
Of what economic value is that rail line? They should decline the loan.

Senseless people. You can't connect the coastal states in the country. You decided to go toward Niger rep. Useless people.

Tumbulum:
what's your qualification?

Who wants to know, and why do you ask?.