The Federal Government said it has opened a discussion with an investor willing to fund the proposed Lagos-Calabar coastal railway line.
Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, minister of transportation, who disclosed this during an interview session with Journalists during the recent 2022 Ministerial Retreat held in Uyo, said the building of the coastal railway line was stalled by a lack of funds.
According to him, the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), the contractor handling the project was unable to provide 85 percent of its counterpart funding while Nigeria is to provide 15 percent.
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He however said the Ministry has identified another investor and is in talks on how to share the works between the investor and CCECC, the initial contractor.
On the importance of the coastal rail, Sambo said the coastal line is very important because it will connect all the port cities in Nigeria.
“If we connect all the port cities by rail, we will then be able to open up the Eastern Ports as well so that goods that come from the ports will naturally go upland,” he said.
He however said that the Federal Government is working assiduously to ensure that inland waterway develops enough to move cargoes by barges to ports of destination.
“We want to make sure that inland waterways transportation is developed in such a way that movement of containers and other cargoes by barges from Lagos through the intra-coastal routes to hinterlands will become the new normal,” Sambo said
According to the Minister, making that possible will involve clearing the waterways and the Ministry has found a company that is ready to start doing that this November.
“We have a dream in the Ministry to move containers from Marina in Lagos to Onitsha in Anambra State and Baro in Niger State. It will entail channel management on the routes from Lagos up to Onitsha along the river Niger up to Baro,” the Minister said.
