Who’ll Move Abuja-Kaduna Electric Railway Project from Dreamland to Reality?
The construction of the new fast-track railway line is to be carried out side by side the total rehabilitation of the existing railway lines in the country for the locomotive engines. While the electric trains that will be using the standard gauge line from Kano to Lagos through Kaduna, Abuja and Minna will be a […]
The construction of the new fast-track railway line is to be carried out side by side the total rehabilitation of the existing railway lines in the country for the locomotive engines. While the electric trains that will be using the standard gauge line from Kano to Lagos through Kaduna, Abuja and Minna will be a passengers train that will be moving at a speed of 200 to 250 kilometers per hour, the locomotive train meant for goods is to move at 45 kilometers per hour.
The project, which started February, 2011 will be completed in thirty-six (36) months at the cost of over $850 million (Eight hundred and fifty million Dollars). The Chinese government is providing $500 million (Five hundred Million Dollars) while a counterpart funding of $350 million (Three Hundred and fifty Million dollar) will be sourced by Nigeria.
But the majority of the people in whose communities the railway line will pass through expressed one problem or the other over the project. Some youths at Rigasa in Kaduna State, where the Kaduna to Abuja segment of the standard gauge railway line started, said they were not comfortable with the commitment of the present administration to execute the project. Musa Mu’azu Koki and Garba Ja’afaru, who spoke separately to this reporter, said they doubted government’s commitment to executing the project as specified.
Musa Koki was angry that President Goodluck Jonathan could not go to Rigasa and flag off the project, as was earlier planned. He said though the then transport minister, Yusuf Suleiman explained that President Jonathan could not flag off the project because it coincided with the flagging off of his 2011 presidential campaign rally in Kaduna. He said the general assumption was that a new date would be fixed for the President to flag off the project.
“Unfortunately, however, no mention of it was made since then, to the effect that the President is even contemplating flagging off that project as it is the tradition with all other major projects of that magnitude. Earlier, there were allegations on the pages of several newspapers that the minister was not comfortable with the project starting from Rigasa, a Muslim dominated area. It was reported that the minister advised the President to avoid Rigasa.
“Again, Rigasa is supposed to serve as the major station for the electric train in Kaduna, but there is no access road into Rigasa. How then can people access the station? For the trains to operate successfully there should be access roads to the stations, there should be motor parks and even markets around the train stations. Hotels, restaurants and even hospitals should be provided around the stations. All these are not in place at least in Rigasa. A railway station cannot exist successfully in isolation of motor parks, access roads and their likes,” he said.
But Garba Ja’afaru, in his opinion, said the entire rail project has failed from inception. “I started hearing about that project when Alhaji Ibrahim Isa Bio was the transport minister. He was removed and Yusuf Suleiman was appointed as minister. Suleiman started following the project logically and there were signs that he was serious about its execution. He was removed and Senator Idris was brought in as minister. It is taking him some months now to settle down and possibly tell us what he can do if any.
“Our concern here is, when serious people administering ministries with people oriented projects, like the standard gauge railway projects, are moved arbitrarily and replaced by people who know little or have no much interest in the project nothing will be accomplished. Such projects suffer untold setbacks whenever such changes of ministers, are made. Most of these ministers rather than ensure continuity, come in with their own different approaches that may not necessarily be friendly to the smooth execution of the project,” he said.
At Jere in Kaduna state where the rail line also passes, Malam Musa Aliyu said a large portion of his farm has been graded on the excuse that the rail line will pass through the place, adding, “I have no job other than farming. The only farm I have has been taken over by the proposed rail line. Rail line is supposed to be narrower than motor road. But they took over my entire farm and graded it all. No compensation has been paid to me. I have nowhere to farm now,” he said.
Peter Nnaji alias ‘Swift Malam’ told this reporter at Idu where one of the nine railway stations between Kaduna and Abuja is to be cited that the rail project has started attracting a lot of businesses and will lead to the opening of several economic activities around the nine railway station-towns. He said he is very optimistic that there will be a lot of commercial activities at the railway stations and many hotel businesses will strive.
Speaking to Sunday Trust before leaving office as Transport Minister to the ministry of sports, Yusuf Suleiman, during whose tenure the first segment of the standard gauge railway line project covering Kaduna to Abuja commenced, said the project, when completed and put to use, will afford a lot of residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and those that have business in the nation’s capital, to reside in Kaduna or any of the railway towns and villages along the rail line to visit the FCT, do their businesses and return the same day.
“When we went to China to negotiate about the trains, the manufacturers offered us the engines that cover 450 kilometers per hour but we rejected that. We consulted President Jonathan who agreed with us that electric train engines that can cover 450 kilometers per hour will not be the best for a country like ours where animals graze freely and in most of the villages the train will pass through, people are used to crossing railway lines with their animals in a way that of the speed of such trains will be dangerous.
“We therefore, opted for the type that can cover 200 to 250 kilometers per hour. With that type, it means when you leave Kaduna by 7am you are sure of being in Abuja by 8am. By that you may even arrive your office and start work before someone that lives in Abuja. Government will make sure that the fare is affordable. We planned to have nine railway stations between Kaduna and Abuja where the trains will be making brief stop-overs to drop and pick passengers,” he said.
Yusuf Suleiman also said as part of the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan targeted at improving the living conditions of Nigerians and other foreigners living in the country, the transport sector is being transformed in a way it will yield a lot of dividends and improve the nation’s economy. He described the transport sector as one of the few public sectors whose transformation will impact positively on the economy of the common man.
Yusuf Suleiman said few days to his transfer from the transport to the sports ministry during a working visit to the site of the on-going railway project between Abuja and Kaduna that currently the project has employed two thousand Nigerians and only Eighty Chinese Engineers. He was very optimistic that when the Kaduna to Abuja segment of the project is completed and put to use, over 5,000 Nigerians will be employed.
The minister who was received on arrival at the project site in Idu, along Abuja to Kaduna road by the Managing Director of China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) handling the project, Mr Bao Gang Cao, expressed satisfaction over the level of work done so far. The minister who led the project inspection team from the Ministry to the project site at Idu said within the next three months, the workforce for the project will have three thousand more Nigerians, in addition to the current 2,000 on ground .The workers will include engineers, surveyors and artisans. He said the project will have thirty-nine bridges and nine fully developed stations with communication and signal facilities.
He said the type of wagons to be used by the electric train will also cater for agricultural produce in addition to passage carriage. He said it is expected to reduce congestion on the roads and bring down the cost of transportation between Abuja and Kaduna. Yusuf Suleiman said the commencement operations of the Kaduna to Abuja railway to bring development to most of the railway station towns as people will relocate to those towns and be travelling to Abuja and Kaduna for daily businesses and return sameday.
Meanwhile, other rail networks around the country, like Lagos- Ibadan and the Apapa Port rail lines to the Northern Rail Networks, are also on course. Before the end of 2015, most of the railway projects and the inland waterways transportation would have been completed in fulfillment of the administration’s agenda in the transport sector.
Shortly after Yusuf Suleiman left the transport ministry and Senator Idris Umar took over, he visited the project site at Idu where he assured that barring any unforeseen problems, the completion of the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge rail project will be completed within the specified 36 months as stipulated in the contract agreement. He said it is expected to be completed in 2014.
Senator Umar, said during the visit to the Idu yard of the CCECC that he would constitute a Ministerial Monitoring Team to submit a monthly report on the Abuja (Idu) – Kaduna railway modernization project, and also promised a quarterly visit to monitor the progress of the project in fulfillment of the transformation drive in the rail sector of the present administration.
Senator Umar also said the government had mapped out a 25-year work plan to ensure that the railway becomes viable for Nigeria to compete favourably with the rail sector in other developed countries. He said when completed and put to use, the Nigerian segment of standard gauge trains will be a dependable means of transportation.
He expressed satisfaction at the speed of work at the location, and noted that substantial sum of money has been earmarked in the 2012 budget for the rail project. He assured of the revitalization of the railways which has been comatose for decades. He explained that the Lagos – Jebba rail lines have been rehabilitated, and promised to address the problems hindering that of Jebba – Kano route.
Some of the facilities he inspected included the railway track and the sleeper manufacturing factory, steel plant structure, laboratory and gantry cranes for movement of heavy equipment. He said he is satisfied with the competence and readiness of CCECC to execute the project seeing the type of equipment they mobilized to site.
In his remarks, the Managing Director of CCECC, Adin Bao Gang, who conducted the Minister promised his team, informed the Minister that the train services will be of immense benefits to the economic development of the nation and the commuting people in this axis and round the project that it will be completed within the stipulated time limit.
He said on completion, the passenger trains will take an hour from Abuja to Kaduna and each can convey more than 5,000 passengers daily, while cargo trains will take an hour and half with each delivering at least 800 tones of cargo. According to him, the cost of the rail route will be low. The project, which has 186 kilometers rail network, will cost of $850 Million (Eight Hundred and Fifty Million dollars).