Lagos-Ibadan rail: Laying of tracks commence April - Amaechi

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has assured that the laying of standard gauge tracks for the Lagos-Ibadan new rail project will commence next April without fail.

The minister made the commitment yesterday during his ministry’s 2018 budget defense before the House Committee on Land Transport.

He said the laying of tracks will commence around Papalanto, Ogun State and will progress towards Oyo State.

The minister also noted that the completion date of December 2018 may not be feasible because of the above challenges, but he noted that if government can sort out all challenges in good time, the contractor, CCECC, may complete the project as planned.

The minister indicated that the project should be completed in the first quarter 2019.

Speaking on the budget performance for 2017, Amaechi explained that the “total capital appropriation for the land transport sector for 2017 was N152,527,70,956 out of which N68,781,608,914 (45.09%) was released to the sector.

“The sum of N20,310,823,043.37 (29.53%) has so far been expended as at January, 2018.”

In addition, he said “the sum of N528,800,000 was appropriated for overhead expenditure for the entire ministry out of which N272,958,695.07 (52%) was released. The sum of N266,042,695.04 (50.3%) was expended as at December 31, 2017,” he explained.

However, the House Committee raised concerned over the low deployment of released funds for several projects needing execution.

But Mr. Amaechi explained that most of the contracts had to go through due process before payments could be effected but that before the deadline of March 31, 2018 when the unexpended funds would be returned to the FG’s account, most of the monies would be released to the necessary projects.