December 21, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government says delivering the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri eastern rail line during the lifetime of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is no longer feasible.
Mu’azu Sambo, Minister of Transportation, disclosed this on Wednesday, while fielding questions from newsmen in Abuja.
THEWILL reports that President Buhari had in 2020, performed the groundbreaking of the $1.96 billion rail line project.
While explaining the importance of the project, the President had said it would stimulate economic activities in 14 benefiting states, which included Abia, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu, Rivers, Nasarawa, Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, Yobe, Borno, Bauchi and Gombe.
Former Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, had said that the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri line would be delivered before the end of the tenure of the present administration.
But, Sambo said the project has been hampered by the Federal Government’s inability to secure foreign loans that will make 85 percent of the funds needed to execute the project.
According to Sambo: “The question relating to the promise to deliver the eastern line narrow gauge before the end of this administration. Now, the eastern line is the line from Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, it has been segmented in such a way that the first part of the works covers Port Harcourt to Enugu.
“Now, the truth of the matter is that if there was a promise to deliver this line before the end of this administration, this promise is no longer feasible because, when the contract was approved, it was approved on the premise that 85 percent will be funded through foreign loan, while 15 percent will be the counterpart funding for the national budget.
“Since that approval, we have not been able to obtain that 85 percent foreign loan for this project. We have been funding it through the national budget on the basis of the 15 percent counterpart funding of the Federal Government. And therefore, funding has been a major challenge for this project.”
