Chinese rail firm seals $12bn deal in Nigeria

A STATE-OWNED Chinese company had signed a $12 billion (R132.4bn) agreement to build a railway along Nigeria’s coast that it billed as China’s single largest overseas contract, state media reported yesterday. China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) signed the official construction contract with the Nigerian government on Wednesday in Abuja, the Xinhua news agency said.The Nigerian railway would stretch for 1 402km along the coast, linking Lagos, the financial capital of Africa’s largest economy and leading oil producer, and Calabar in the east, according to the report. The $11.97bn deal marks China’s largest single overseas contract project so far, it said, citing CRCC. The news came two weeks after Mexico cancelled a $3.75bn bullet train deal only days after it was signed with a Chinese-led consortium headed by CRCC – the sole bidder – reportedly due to concerns about transparency. – Sapa-AFP