Concerned by the earnest completion of the Ebute Metta Junction corridor of the ongoing standard gauge rail project extension into the Apapa port which has witnessed protracted delays majorly due to the corona-virus pandemic, Nigeria’s minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has directed the Chinese Civil Engineering & Construction Corporation (CCECC) to set up a task force that will work assiduously towards the completion of the Apapa train station at the same time with other major and minor stations along the Lagos-Ibadan corridor that are at various stages of completion.
Amaechi disclosed this during the last ministerial project tour to see progress of work on the $1.5 billion, 156.5 kilometer Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail project. He told the CCECC to ensure that all the stations included the Apapa train station are completed and delivered to the federal government at the same time.
According to the minister, ‘’I have insisted that a special task-force be set up to make sure Apapa station is completed same time as all the others. If you see the station at Olodo, there are improvements; they finished flooring, roofing, lighting, ceilings; just doors and windows left. Again, what is left at Kajola is just painting. There is improvement in Olodo and Ebute-metta. And to that extent, the upcoming Apapa station should not be left out’’.
He noted that much work has not been done on the Apapa station because the building of the station just commenced, and called on the project managers to finish all the stations at same time. Amaechi also disclosed that the contractors were expecting more engineers on site to speed up construction’.
“The only station in which I am not satisfied is this last station in Ibadan. However, they have given us the following targets that by end of September, three stations will be ready; end of October, all the seven minor stations will be ready while by end of December, everything will be ready,” he said.
