Said Alkali, Nigeria’s minister of transportation, has said that freight services on the Lagos-Kano narrow gauge rail will commence in June 2024.
The contractors, the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), confirmed that the line has been linked up to Zawaciki Dala Dry Port, the commercial city of Kano, in the Northwest.
The minister stated this while on an inspection tour of the Kano-Maradi rail corridor. According to him, the freight services would reduce the cost of business, the menace of road traffic, and accidents.
“We will save our highways and the multiplier effect is on the GDP growth of the country.
“We inspected the rail line from the existing narrow gauge to the Dala Inland Dry Port because that is where we are going to drop the containers. By May, latest by June, we are going to put that corridor into freight from Lagos to Kano.”
The minister also expressed satisfaction with the pace of work on the Kano-Maradi standard gauge rail corridor, acknowledging there’s been an improvement from what he saw during his first inspection visit to the site.
However, Alkali disclosed that plans were underway to segment the project for easy, efficient and faster completion, according to a statement signed by Muhammad Tahir Zakari, on behalf of the director of press and public relations, the transportation ministry.
For the standard gauge project from Lagos to Maradi, the minister said it would be completed in phases with Kano-Daura to be completed in 2025.
Alkali also said that the ministry would segment the project starting with the Kano-Daura next year and Daura to Maradi in 2026 and Dutse to Kano in 2026.
“This is the second leg of my inspection since I took over as the minister of transportation and the essence of the inspection is to see by myself with a team from the ministry of transportation, engineers from the Nigerian Railway Corporation, consultants and contractors so that we ensure compliance in term of time and in terms of specifications.
“We came from Kano, and we drove on the formation that they did, they are doing the earthwork and the culvert and this is a station where they have started preparing the rail lines and the slippers so that they will use their locomotive to convey the materials on the rail line.
“I have discussed with the contractors; we are going to segment the project by the grace of God. We are going to put Kano-Daura next year, Faira to Maradi in 2026, and Dutse to Kano in 2026.
“It is not this one that is ready for freight. You know, the inspection is in two phases, the one we did today, we inspected Kaduna to Kano and Kano to Daura and Daura to Maradi.
“The one for Kaduna to Kano, the contractor is CCECC. We are going to put the freight hopefully in the next month from Lagos to Kano on the narrow gauge.
“We inspected the rail line from the existing Narrow gauge to Dala Inland Dry Port because that is where we are going to drop the containers. That one still stands, by May, late June, we are going to put that corridor into Freight from Lagos to Kano,” he said.
