The federal government has said that the Kano-Kaduna rail line may begin commercial operations in May 2023.
The route which will be used to convey both passengers and cargos upon completion is expected to boost commercial activities between Lagos and kano
Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation stated this in kano while inspecting construction work on the rail corridor.
The minister noted that the completion of the rail line is dependent on the availability of funds.
He stressed that funding for the project has become difficult because of the economic downturn.
“The Chinese are not funding the way they used to, till now we are yet to conclude on loans for this project, so we are funding it from the budget.”
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“We are putting pressure on all the necessary institutions that used to give us funds. And hopefully, before May we will be able to get enough funds to complete this project.”
“We agree that if we fund them, they must complete the work. They must do what they agree that they will do. The conversation we had with them is that they must break this work into parts so that everybody will be working at the same time. If they do that I am sure that before May 2023 we will have commercial activity on the track,” he stated.
The minister has directed the contractors handling the kano-Kaduna rail project to utilize local labour.
“It is not good for the Chinese to come here and we borrow 2 billion, take the whole profit and go to their country. They should also spend part of it on the country.”
The rail project involves a 203-kilometre double-track standard gauge railway from Kano to Kano with an estimated sum of $1.2 billion
