﻿Nigeria's eastern railway project explained China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC)
subsidiary China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) recently signed a contract
with Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Transportation for the rehabilitation
and reconstruction of Nigeria's Eastern Line, valued at more than US$3.02 billion.
When finished, the restored railway network will also connect ports and key cities
with standard gauge rails. The contract was awarded during previous President
Goodluck Jonathan's administration but was re-awarded by the Buhari administration.
The House of Representatives has decided to look into the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri
railway reconstruction contract awarded under former President Goodluck Jonathan's tenure.
The Eastern Route Railway runs across 12 states and connects dozens of key eastern cities between
Port Harcourt, the country's second largest port, and Maiduguri in the north. The contract comprises
the restoration and renovation of the railway network from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri in the
north. Nigeria has planned a "three vertical and five horizontal" railway backbone network,
and China Turkey Group has been heavily involved in the country's railway network building.
China Turkey has signed important railway projects in the country from 2020, in addition to
the eastern line railway. The projected Nigerian railway network is expected to support industrial
development and commercial activity with its five horizontal and three vertical railways.
After Nigeria's national "three vertical and five horizontal" railway backbone network
is completed, it will promote the development and utilization of resources along the route,
accelerate the country's industrialization and urbanization process, and stimulate the
increase of jobs in cities and towns along the route, all of which will play an important role
in promoting Nigeria's economic and social development. The project will include the
building of additional branch tracks in addition to the growth of the current eastern railway.
After completion, the railway would not only connect to ports and major cities,
but it will also be interconnected with modern standard gauge railways.
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The connection of the new railway tracks to a new Bonny seaport in Bonny Island and
Railway Industrial Park in Port Harcourt is designed to increase the viability and boost
trans-shipments of cargo and freight, across West African sub-region in the continental free trade.
Messrs Esser Contracting and Industry Company (Turkey), CGGC Global Projects Nigeria Limited,
and Lingo Nigeria Limited (in partnership with Strasky Husty and Partners Ltd of Czech Republic)
would be investigated by the yet-to-be-formed ad hoc committee. This resolution came as a result
of a motion introduced by Mzondu Bem (PDP, Benue) on May 19, 2021. The deal was awarded in 2011 for
N72.36 billion, according to Mr Bem. He claimed that the contractors had completed no work on the
project after ten years. Budgetary allocations for the project were given in 2010 and 2011, according
to the legislator. In March 2011, the railway repair work was divided into three sections:
463 kilometers between Port Harcourt and Makurdi, 1016 kilometers between Makurdi and Kuru,
and 640 kilometers between Kuru and Maiduguri, all of which were granted to three different
contractors at the same time. The 463-kilometer Port Harcourt-Makurdi restoration was awarded
to Esser Contracting and Industry Firm Incorporated,
a non-existent company associated to family members of the then-Managing Director of
the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Adeseyi Sijwuade. However, the Buhari administration
approved the repair and reconstruction of the same project several years later. The
project was approved for $3.02 billion by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in 2020, with
new branch lines and trans-shipment facilities. The Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway
Cooperation (NRC), Fidet Edentalen Okhiria, said that the route will cut across Port Harcourt
to Maiduguri, a branch in Owerri, Anambra and Abakaliki. With this, massive employment will
be generated. However, in order to have an easy movement, it is recommended that the projects
start from the Bonny seaport so as to move the necessary materials to the construction
locations. He further explained that removing the old tracks and introducing new ones means
doing away with what is called “traps”. This will enable the trains to move at a high speed with
60-80 kilometres per hour and 80-100 kilometres per hour for freight and passengers respectively.
Speaking further, Mr Fidet stated that the Bonny deep seaport has a container terminal of 500,000
TEU (20 feet equivalent unit per annum capacity and 100,000 DWT Deadweight tonnage) Berth.
“The Port Harcourt Railway Industrial Park, will serve as a station where train parts and repairs
will be concentrated and it will be supported by necessary infrastructure including power,
water, waste, disposal, ICT and gas distribution as well as transportation,
logistics centres and ancillaries” he said. In his address, the Minister of Transportation.
Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi said that the Ministry is working with the government
policies and the President’s directives to implement the railway modernization project,
as well as expanding the railway network and it is being developed through a direct investment
by a conglomerate led by Messers CCECC Nigeria Limited with a total investment of US$700million.
He said the project entailed reconstruction of the narrow gauge system with an additional
approval by the president to seek funds to build a standard gauge for the Port
Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line and the spurs. The Transportation Minister also said that
this project will serve as a supply chain network for domestic needs and also support
imports into the hinterlands of the county through the new deep seaport in Bonny Island.
Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, said the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Eastern Railway Corridor,
would link 14 states, including the five South-east states of Abia, Anambra, Imo,
Ebonyi and Enugu as well as nine others.The other states are: Rivers, Nasarawa, Benue, Plateau,
Kaduna, Yobe, Borno, Bauchi and Gombe. He explained: “That will cover the entire
five states of the South-east from where we proceed to Makurdi, and from Makurdi to Lafia.
“Between Lafia and Kaduna, there is a connection from Kaduna to Kafanchan to join the western
flank of the railway line which is a standard gauge. “We will continue from Jos to Bauchi,
Bauchi to Gombe. “At Gombe, there is
a spur headed to Damaturu and from Damaturu to Gashua and from Gombe again to Borno.”
On the controversial Kano-Maradi rail line, the minister said the project is Nigeria’s
contribution to a rail project conceived by the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS). On the deep blue sea project, he said the federal government was fighting
those benefiting from insecurity on the nation’s waters. He said the project,
billed for launch by month-end, had all the platforms needed for progression,
including three helicopters, three fixed-wing planes, two ships and 16 vessels, among others. He
accused the providers of rented vessels, who are paid billions of naira, of hampering the project.
“All the security architecture you need to get the project going is on the ground,
but those who do business in the waters, those who benefit from insecurity, were making it
difficult for the project to continue “Now when the project continues,
it will be difficult for anybody to say they are helping the navy with vessels
and all that because we have all the platforms to provide security in our waters,” he said.
Amaechi added that “The reason why we will not go out of it is that there are people
who provide vessels to NNPC and they are paid every week and they are paid billions
of dollars in a lease and all that.” The project has come under criticism with
questions raised over the rationale for such a project linking a foreign nation with a loan from
China when Nigeria is in dire need of funds. But Amaechi said a feasibility study of the project
was first conducted by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
He said the project would be beneficial to Nigeria as cargoes initially destined for other countries
would be redirected to the nation with the attendant economic benefits and job creation. He
said the government of Niger Republic had agreed that their national cargoes would go through
Nigeria’s rail track. Amaechi said the implication of the expected agreement to be signed between the
two countries was that business would thrive in Kano and Abuja with the attendant job creation.
On the Abuja-Kaduna rail line, he stated that it had generated N120 million
since the introduction of electronic ticketing. According to him,
the management of the rail line is no longer dependent on government subvention
but on revenue generated through the e-ticketing to cover its operational cost.
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