The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) said it is perfecting plans to begin container haulage from Port Harcourt in Rivers State to Aba following the recent completion of the Eastern Rail track from Port Harcourt in Rivers State to Aba in Abia State.
Fidet Okhiria, managing director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, disclosed this in a recent strategic meeting on enhancing port efficiency for effective trade facilitation, held between Gboyega Oyetola, minister of Marine & Blue Economy; Said Ahmed Alkali, minister of Transportation, and Adewale Adeniyi, comptroller general of Customs.
Okhiria said for the efficient evacuation of containers, that plans are on the way to move containers from Port Harcourt to Aba, with future extensions envisaged for Onne Port.
The eastern railway runs from Port Harcourt-Aba-Enugu-Maiduguri on the narrow-gauge railway.
A few weeks back, the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Ltd. (CCECC) said it had completed the laying of track from Port Harcourt to Aba on the Nigeria Eastern Narrow-Gauge Railway project.
John Zhao, chief representative and executive director of CCECC, disclosed this on his X handle @JohnCCECC: “New Year, new progress! The track laying from Port Harcourt to Aba on the Nigeria Eastern Narrow-Gauge Railway project has been completed by #CCECC,” Zhao said in the tweet.
According to him, the track work completed by CCECC is for renovating the original Eastern railway.
Okhiria however pledged continued commitment to freight cargoes to inland container depots/dry ports, a strategic move to alleviate congestion at major ports.
