BEVERLY HILLS, May 16, (THEWILL) – The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has been summoned by the Senate to explain why the eastern corridor of the nation’s rail lines was excluded from the proposed loan from the China Exim bank.
Amaechi is by the summon expected to appear before the Senate Committee on Transport over the matter.
Last month, President Muhammadu Buhari had in a letter sought the approval of the National Assembly to borrow $5.851bn for the upgrade of various sections of the country’s railway.
But moving a motion on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, the lawmaker representing Anambra south, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said the required loan only covers the rehabilitation of a section of the country’s rail lines.
He maintained that the exclusion of the eastern section that links the south-south, south-east, north-central and north-east to key cities such as Port Harcourt, Aba, Enugu, Makurdi, Lafia, Gudi, Jos, Bauchi and Maiduguri is inexplicable.
According to him, “The eastern section of the rail segment, which has a link between the south-east to the north-eastern parts of the rail line is completely excluded from the request.
“The loan being a federal government borrowing would be paid for by all sections of the country, therefore every section of the country should be taken into consideration.
“There is a railway master plan developed by the ministry of transport and of which such plans has not been referred to in the current borrowing plan.”
Abaribe then averred that the railway projects should be evenly spread for it to have meaningful impact on the development of the country
Contributing to the debate, the deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, described the omission as discriminatory, stressing that “this is discrimination and should not be allowed to continue in this dispensation”.
Kicking against the motion however, the chairman, Senate Committee on Transport, Gbenga Ashafa said the information in the motion was inadequate.
He disclosed that when the Buhari administration came on board, Aba and Onitsha were chosen for rehabilitation of rail lines passing through the cities.
“What the government is doing is the right thing, you have to negotiate the loans before you start a project,” Ashafa said.
In his ruling, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki said the leadership was already looking into the matter, adding that it is important for every part of the country to have standard gauge lines.
The upper legislative chamber went on to adopt the motion after it was put to a voice vote by Saraki, who presided over the session.
