[size=14pt]$15bn Lagos-Calabar rail-line underway[/size]
By LOUIS IBA
Monday, August 15, 2011


President Goodluck Jonathan
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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The Federal Government has demanded a review of the proposed Lagos to Calabar and Maiduguri to Lagos railway line project such that it operates as an ‘unsolicited’ Public Private Partnership (PPP) deal.

A US firm, New Dawn Development International Limited (NDDIL) had put forward the idea for the project to the Federal Government saying it would require about $15billion to bring it on stream, and that it was prepared to source for the funds from banks and finance institutions from the United States of America if it gets the government nod.

The project, already, has received the backing of the Eastern Professionals’ Forum who said it had “huge economic benefits and inherent potentials for advancing relations between the United States and Nigeria” and could also act as the greatest catalysts that will boost transportation, trade and investment between the eastern and western part of the country and also a link between the northeast and southwest zones of Nigeria.

A letter signed by Mansur Ahmed, Director general, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, a regulatory body which is under The Presidency, said “the unsolicited proposal must of necessity thoroughly evaluate the economic and financial parameters of the project and will highlight the commercial viability of the project and outline the most effective PPP model for the project including an appropriate financial model/risk allocation matrix between the public and private sector.”

Mansur said government welcomed the idea of a private railway transportation project, but that it would only attend to the proposal if tailored and resubmitted to meet the unsolicited PPP proposal guidelines provided by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission.
The US firm said its target for the project was “to give Nigerians in the South and Easts of the country a reliable and affordable alternative means of transporting passengers, goods and information/data across the country and also use the project as a catalysts for revamping the nation’s economy and enticing other major US investors to consider Nigeria as the first choice for investment.”

A release by the Easter Professionals’ Forum said “the huge capital inflow from the project will have far-reaching beneficial effects on so many sectors of the economy, and will, in fact, shake Nigeria up from its economic slumber.” “This railway project will be a boom for agriculture in nigeria. Fortunately, much of the area that the new route will pass through have actually been called the agricultureal belt of Nigeria. There are so many other ways this project will impact on Nigeria.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/aug/15/national-15-08-2011-002.html

Would be amazing if it actually happened

Hope it pass my town,

15 Billion dollars is a lot of money for such project if you as me. I mean, it's 15 [b]Billion [/b]dollars. I rather have electricity than railway at this price.

Not a bad idea at all.

I dey laugh o! Nigerians are sheep. Everytime they hear of these projects, they chook head. No private investor will sponsor $15bln for one rail line in a country where yearly budget is $27bln. Another of the numerous fantasy projects of which we hear hullaballoo about which only exist in fantasy land.

^Well i dont know how true this is and how committed the people involved are, but  i think the project is feasible if those involve are committed to it. It definitely will not be a year project and it should be over a number of phases. The $15bn should be the overall cost of the project.

Ibime:

I dey laugh o! Nigerians are sheep. Everytime they hear of these projects, they chook head. No private investor will sponsor $15bln for one rail line in a country where yearly budget is $27bln. Another of the numerous fantasy projects of which we hear hullaballoo about which only exist in fantasy land.

You know that Nigerians love to dream. In fact, we love miracles.
And, the term 'hook, line and sinker' was probably developed in Nigeria.

15b dollars?   Yet, no electricity. Who are the travelers? Half of Nigeria's budget. Maybe some people think banks are stupidd.


15b dollars?! That is about 8 years of Lagos IGR!


Effing dreamers!

Where will we get $15 billion dollars for this project. I hope this is not another white elephant project? Have they even accounted for the payout for local communities and area boys?

Ibime said

I dey laugh o! Nigerians are sheep. Everytime they hear of these projects, they chook head. No private investor will sponsor $15bln for one rail line in a country where yearly budget is $27bln. Another of the numerous fantasy projects of which we hear hullaballoo about which only exist in fantasy land.

My friend pls shut up if you have nothing sensible to say.

How much was the US earning 100 years ago when they were building their railroads spanning across their vast country? How much was Britain earning when she began building her underground rail network 100 years ago? Some of you just need to stop poisoning our future with your negative-minded can't do mentality. Better yet, go find another country to spread your poison in and leave us the hell alone.

passyjango:

[b]Where will we get $15 billion dollars for this project. [/b]I hope this is not another white elephant project? Have they even accounted for the payout for local communities and area boys?

Read the article, the answer is to your question is there.

Rossikk:

Ibime said

My friend pls shut up if you have nothing sensible to say.

How much was the US earning 100 years ago when they were building their railroads spanning across their vast country? How much was Britain earning when she began building her underground rail network 100 years ago? Some of you just need to stop poisoning our future with your negative-minded can't do mentality. Better yet, go find another country to spread your poison in and leave us the hell alone.

So, those countries used PPP (or whatever you guys like to call it)?

ola olabiy:

15b dollars?   Yet, no electricity. Who are the travelers? Half of Nigeria's budget. Maybe some people think banks are stupidd.

+ people

^ + new businesses traffic that will spring up along that rail line once completed.

All these unknown Companies sprouting up, getting the backing of unknown Youth/Professional Forum


Where will THEY get the money from even!

Who are they what have they done- just some photo opps with Elobolo president

Ibime:

I dey laugh o! Nigerians are sheep. Everytime they hear of these projects, they chook head. No private investor will sponsor $15bln for one rail line in a country where yearly budget is $27bln. Another of the numerous fantasy projects of which we hear hullaballoo about which only exist in fantasy land.

Lol,

I thought as well. It took Nigeria 25 years to pay back 60% of their $28BN debt and they expect a sane bank to finance a railroad for $15BN. Will bullet trains be running on them?

ekt_bear:




+ people

Let's define PPP.
It is a term developed in Britain by the Conservatives around 1992. They called it PFI back then. The concession period of most projects in the UK is 25 years.

These private investors are:
Insurance companies
Private (individual) investors
Private Equities (the most popular)
Bond investors, etc.


^^^These investors always have one thing in mind: PROFIT.
They aren't Samaritans. Now, tell me if any sane investor would commit 15 billion dollars to Nigeria's railway project. What do you think the concession period for this would be? 400 years? I mean in order to recoup 15 billion dollars! Please, do the effing maths!



In most cases, PEs do what we call asset-strip. They are not interested in any effing development!

Governments in Africa mouth PPP a lot these days. The reason is they have discovered that it is a veritable ground for corruption.

Their sort of  PPP is not privately financed (at least, not wholly).

Don't be deceived guys, it is a charade.

Rossikk:

Ibime said

My friend pls shut up if you have nothing sensible to say.

How much was the US earning 100 years ago when they were building their railroads spanning across their vast country? How much was Britain earning when she began building her underground rail network 100 years ago? Some of you just need to stop poisoning our future with your negative-minded can't do mentality. Better yet, go find another country to spread your poison in and leave us the hell alone.

Mechonu dia Mr Ostrich!

The wise ones have heard this all before.

If I was to document all the super projects promised on the pages of our newspapers which never materialised, Seun would run out of bandwidth.

Perhaps you will next hear about the project after they have spent $100m on feasibility study and decide it is unfeasible.

Holla back at me when the project is completed.

I doubt that New Dawn Development International Limited, is a US Company.  US corporations generally do not use the term Limited to identify their legal structure. Limited is common in the British Commonwealth, though.

The Company in question, New Dawn Development International Limited, is a Canadian Company that specializes in residential and commercial real estate developments in Canada. Nowhere on their web site is there any indication that they have expertise or experience in developing railways or any type of transportation infrastructure. They don't even seem large enough to execute multi-billion dollar developments in Canada, so I fail to see how they can undertake a $15b railway project in a country they have no presence.

My guess is that the story is either false, or the writer identified the wrong company. It is also possible that some fraudulent group in Nigeria is using New Dawn’s name to fleece the Nigerian government of a lot of money. [s]It may even be that the Canadian Company itself is trying to use the corrupt system in Nigeria as a launch pad to bigger things.[/s] I don’t know what the truth is, but something is fishy about this story.

------------------------

Afterthought:
I suspect the writer might have confused NDDIL with another Canadian company that is headed by a Nigerian-born engineer whose company won a contract to build or rebuild a rail line in Iraq.
   
Modified on 16-Aug-2011

Does anyone know the route of this rail line? What cities does it transit through?
The viability depends on the route. Simple.

I don't feel like laughing.

See my first post in this thread and Kobojunkie's response to my post.

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-586152.0.html


This is the company headed by the Nigerian-born gentleman:
http://www.globim.com/

@Pifa: As usual, thanks for the informative posts.

ekt_bear:

@Pifa: As usual, thanks for the informative posts.

How is Cali treating you?

Pifa:

How is Cali treating you?

Can't complain man. Just trying to wrap things up over the next year and then find a job. Looks like there is a decent chance of me actually settling here for a few years, at least. It has kind of grown on me a bit

I hope all is well on your side.

Pifa:



New Dawn Development International Limited
http://www.newdawndevelopments.com/

Who in his/her right mind would believe that website belongs to a multi-million dollar(not even billion-dollar) company in Canada or even the US? 
I mean look at the picture of the supposed employees of this company. The company is able to hire all those people, yet its website remains so crappy?


I wouldn't even purchase a car from a company with such a website.

Kobojunkie:

Who in his/her right mind would believe that website belongs to a multi-million dollar(not even billion-dollar) company in Canada or even the US? 

I wouldn't even purchase a car from a company with such a website.

I decided to keep quiet.

This is what Eku called "informative"

We are what we are, even if we have lived only in the West



Caveat emptor.

On their website, there's a claim to "centuries of experience".

As in really?

Kobojunkie:

Who in his/her right mind would believe that website belongs to a multi-million dollar(not even billion-dollar) company in Canada or even the US? 
I mean look at the picture of the supposed employees of this company. The company is able to hire all those people, yet its website remains so crappy? 


I wouldn't even purchase a car from a company with such a website.

 
   
@kobojunkie

I would not "trash" the Canadian real estate company. I think they were a victim of an indolent news reporter (or blogger) who should have checked and double checked his or her facts before publishing the story. I do not believe that the Canadian real estate company ever expressed any interest in developing a rail line in Nigeria and I should not have speculated that it was possible they might be using the corrupt system in Nigeria as a launch pad to bigger project. I regret that.

It would be more appropriate to direct any ire or indignation toward the news reporter.

Pifa:

@kobojunkie

I would not "trash" the Canadian real estate company. I think they were a victim of an indolent news reporter (or blogger) who should have checked and double checked his or her facts before publishing the story. I do not believe that the Canadian real estate company ever expressed any interest in developing a rail line in Nigeria and I should not have speculated that it was possible they might be using the corrupt system in Nigeria as a launch pad to bigger project. I regret that.

It would be more appropriate to direct any ire or indignation toward the news reporter.
   

I am not trashing because you assume it is the company in question here. I mean, dubious news of this sort have become common place with Nigeria.

I am simply stating that I would not even purchase a car from a company with such a website, let alone a house from em. I don't know about you but before I invest such large funds with any company, I like to be sure, especially these days, that the company at least spends some of the money it makes on "looking good and presentable". If that website there really belongs to the real estate company, then I will warn anyone I know to stay away from such a company.

Kobojunkie:


I am not trashing because you assume it is the company in question here. I mean, dubious news of this sort have become common place with Nigeria.

I am simply stating that I would not even purchase a car from a company with such a website, let alone a house from em. I don't know about you but before I invest such large funds with any company, I like to be sure, especially these days, that the company at least spends some of the money it makes on "looking good and presentable". If that website there really belongs to the real estate company, then I will warn anyone I know to stay away from such a company.

   
Understood. That's why I put trash in quotes, which means I nuanced its meaning.

I just hate for an innocent company to be dragged into this. You can imagine their IT person noticing a spike in traffic directed to their web site from Nairaland and learning they were part of story that should not have mentioned the name of their company.

This is just a new scam, the 419 guys have got smarter, they go to the FG with all these project ideas, it is a PPP, government drops say about $10m they also give them land and some other stuff, the guys pretend as if they are doing something, a few years down the line, the project is described as unworkable shikena.