By CrossRiverWatch Admin
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday ratified the presidential approval for the Lagos – Calabar coastal rail project to link most of Nigeria’s coastal cities by rail within six years.
The FEC also approved USD11.17 billion for the project, the Cable Newspapers quotes Lai Mohammed, the country’s infromation and culture minister as saying while briefing state house correspondents after the virtual FEC meeting on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The project, which was inherited by the current administration was already approved and Mr. Mohammed said what the FEC did was the, “ratification of the president’s approval for the award of contract for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Standard Gauge.”
“Today, the council has given approval to commence the Lagos-Calabar coastal rail,” he continued, adding that; “This particular route is very important because after the Lagos-Kano route, this Lagos-Calabar coastal route actually will link all the coastal cities in the country.
“Actually, the proposed route alignment is as follows; it will go from Lagos to Sagamu, Sagamu to Ijebu-Ode, Ijebu-Ode to Ore, Ore to Benin City, Benin-City to Sapele, Sapele to Warri, Warri to Yenogoa, Yenegoa to Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt to Aba, Aba to Uyo, Uyo to Calabar, Calabar to Akamkpa to Ikom, Obudu Ranch with branch lines from Benin-City to Agbo, Ogwashi-ukwu, Asaba, Onitsha and Onitsha Bridge and then Port Harcourt to Onne Deep Sea Port.
“This particular route is very important especially for our coastal economy; the cost of the project is 11. 17 billion dollars.”
According to Mohammed, the transport minister, Rotimi Amaechi presented two memos to the FEC with the first one dealing with, “the Kano-Jibia rail and the other one has to do with the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail,” adding that: “Actually what was approved today was funding to ensure that work starts immediately on those two rails.”