Construction work has commenced on the Kano-Maradi Rail Line as Mota-Engil Nigeria Limited, the contractor in charge of the project, recently took delivery of $200 million worth of equipment to undertake the big-ticket project.
The equipment, which came from China and was discharged at the terminal of Ports and Cargo Handling Services (PCHSL) at the Tin-Can Island Port, totalled over 180 and include wheel loaders, backhoe loaders, crawler excavators, crawler excavators medium lift, crawler excavators heavy lift, truck-mounted concrete pumps, concrete mixer trucks, telehandlers, and motor graders.
Others include vibratory soil compactors, pneumatic rollers, mobile cranes, tipper trucks, dumper semi-trailer trucks, articulated dumper trucks, wheel excavators, bulldozers, front-end excavators, pavers, tower cranes, crushing central plants, concrete batching plants and sleeper factory.
Speaking to journalists while taking delivery of the equipment in Tin-Can Port in Lagos recently, Nuno Colaço, logistics manager of, Mota-Engil Nigeria Limited, said the latest acquisition is a strategic investment for the present and for the future.
He said the acquisition of the equipment is not only a landmark for the development of the railway infrastructure in Nigeria but also for the whole of West Africa.
Pointing out that Nigeria has huge potential and is an economy that is on the rebound, he said, the company is also expecting a second shipment from China.
Colaço said the company is undertaking the construction of the $1.959 billion Kano-Maradi Standard Gauge Railway lines, a three-year project that is expected to be delivered in 2025 and will comprise 100 bridges and three base camps along the line from Kano to Maradi in the Niger Republic.
“We have employed 300 Nigerian staff that are working and 50 experts. As the work progresses, the workforce will increase to about 1,000 and we are happy to provide jobs to the Nigerian populace by building the state-of-the-art rail line,” he said.
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According to him, Mota- Engil is constructing the $1.959 billion Kano-Maradi Standard Gauge Railway lines alongside the Sagamu-Benin Expressway, the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, and is also the reserved bidder for the 4th Mainland Bridge in Lagos.
John Jenkins, managing director of the Ports and Cargo Handling Services, expressed the terminal operator’s gratitude to Mota- Engil for selecting the terminal as a preferred destination for the equipment for an important project such as the Kano-Maradi Rail Line.
He said the terminal was delighted to have worked with the construction company on a landmark project that will create hundreds of direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs for Nigerians.
Jenkins said that the protracted gridlock in the Lagos Ports corridor has drastically reduced as the situation is no longer as bad as it used to be.
“In the old days, the traffic gridlock used to be very bad, but things have improved. Barges are being used to evacuate the goods while the government is repairing the infrastructure. I believe that the government has done a good job in repairing the road infrastructure around the port. We are a lot better positioned than before,” he added.
In 2018 Shoreline Group, the Nigerian energy and industrial conglomerate founded by Kola Karim, partnered with Mota-Engil, a publicly listed Portuguese construction company, to establish Mota-Engil Nigeria.
Rated by Deloitte as one of the top 100 construction companies in the world, Mota-Engil currently operates in 28 countries in Africa, Europe, and Latin America.
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