There are indications that the revised commencement of rehabilitation work by November this year on the 1,800 kilometer Lagos to Kano narrow gauge rail project may suffer a fresh set back, BusinessDay learnt.

This is because SinoHydro, the Chinese firm that should have moved to site to commence rehabilitation of the railway tracks is yet to do so. In August this year GE dropped its lead role in the consortium given the concession to rehabilitate the rail line to South Africa based railway giant, Transnet.

The Federal Government had to enter into another round of negotiation with Transnet to forestall any stoppage of the rehabilitation of the combined 3,500 kilometers narrow gauge lines across the country.
A top official of Transnet told BusinessDay on the sidelines of FT Africa summit that the company has formally written to Ministry of Transportation and has gotten approval to lead the $2 billion railway rehabilitation work.

GE was initially the lead in the consortium, which has SinoHydro, a leading infrastructure construction services corporation, Transnet, a leader in transportation and logistics infrastructure management and APM Terminals, a global port, terminal and intermodal inland services provider as members.

According to the Transnet top official, the Federal Ministry of Finance has already issued a $45 million standby credit for the interim phase of the railway rehabilitation project to take off in November.
Out of the $45 million, about $19 million is to be given to Transnet to bring in about 200 flatbed wagons to move containers from the Apapa ports, another $20 million is to be given Chinese SinoHydro for the rehabilitation of the railway tracks up to Ilorin in Kwara state while the balance of $6 million will be given to GE to rehabilitate 10 coaches. JP Morgan is supposed to monetise the US$45 million standby letters of credit.
However, plans for the interim phase of the project to take off in November could be delayed if the repairs to the tracks are not completed before that date.

He said that there would be no need to bring new wagons into the country if the tracks are not reliable.” We would not want new wagons to be brought only for them to derailed”
He disclosed that the federal government is eager that the project commences ahead of the election but chances are slim that it would commence given that there is no indication that SinoHydro has moved to site.

Fidet Okhiria, managing director of Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) said he was in a meeting and could not speak when BusinessDay contacted him to confirm when SinoHydro will move to site.
But Abdul Omayele Usman, a keen follower of ongoing railway rehabilitation projects across the country who spoke to our reporter disclosed at the time of filing this report, that, there is no sign that preliminary refurbishment has commenced on the narrow gauge lines.

In the interim phase of the rail concession, Remedial Works will be carried out on part of the narrow-gauge rail line system to make it technically and economically operable.

In addition, a joint operation will be established between the Consortium and the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) with an initial supply of 10 locomotives and 200 wagons to augment the existing rolling stock in Nigeria.

The program is expected to deliver an increase in the number of available locomotives, thus increasing the frequency of passenger and freight rail services. In addition, freight haulage capacity by the end of the first 12 months of the interim phase is expected to increase roughly ten-fold, from its current less than 50,000 metric tonnes per annum to about 500,000 metric tonnes per annum.

Over the decades, Nigeria’s dilapidated rail system which serves as the artery of any economy has given rise to man hours lost on the road due to its bad condition.
Patrick Adenusi, chief executive officer, Safety Beyond Borders commended the concession deal reached between both parties, describing it as one of the best ways to go.

According to him, it will make the haulage of goods and services easier and at a cheaper, reduce fatalities and reduce vehicular pressure on the road.
He expressed worry that Nigeria has lost enormous resources by not investing in the rail network, spending huge sums of resources in building roads that cannot be maintained and wasting huge amount of resources on rickety trucks importation which constitutes safety hazard.

Source: https://www.theleadingpost.com/2018/10/16/november-date-for-2bn-lagos-kano-rail-rehabilitation-doubtful.html

OK

if I say APC you say scam

APC is not sure of anything
Everything thing is doubtful under APC

SinoHydro, the Chinese firm that should have moved to site to commence rehabilitation of the railway tracks is yet to do so.

Well the Government needs to pressure SinoHydro to get to work since they are catalyst to get the whole project working. The project will have alot of benefit since cargo can move goods cheaper and safer. Some of the truckers will will start doing short routes.