TRANSPORTATION >> Lagos-Ibadan train: ‘Impediments on Lagos corridor now under control’
At last engineering solutions have been deployed to the many impediments stalling the pace of work on the Lagos section of the $2.1 billion Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail, Daily Trust can report.
The contractor handling the LagosIbadan standard gauge rail has commenced excavation, formation and re-protection of gas and water pipelines in the Lagos corridor of the project.
The pipelines were some of the impediments that have slowed down the pace of work on Section One of the project covering Ebute-Metta and Iju in Lagos.
The contractor, China Civil Engineering and Construction Corporation (CCECC), has completed track laying from Iju in Lagos to kilometer 157 which is the final destination of the project in Ibadan.
But from Kilometer 23 in Iju to Ebute-Metta, the work has witnessed some challenges owing to many encumbrances including water and gas pipelines.
Some of the pipelines belong to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) while others belong to the Lagos State Water Corporation.
Daily Trust observed that workers of CCECC have excavated the pipelines to study the formation and protected needed.
Our correspondent reports that with the impediments on the Lagos axis being removed, there are indications that track laying from Iju to EbuteMetta would commence anytime soon as the contractor has gone far in securing the right of way.
The right of way from Ebute-Metta, Tejuosho, Mushin, Oshodi, Ikeja and Agege where several bridges and culverts were being constructed is being secured.
The contractor has also shifted the narrow gauge tracks in some sections while a new one would be constructed to ensure that both the narrow gauge and standard gauge run simultaneously.
It would be recalled that the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) had suspended the operation of the narrow gauge which plied LagosOgun; Lagos-Apapa as well as the Lagos-Kano train services because of the ongoing standard gauge construction.
Spokesman of CCECC Prince Abdulraouf Akinwoye said the contractor had taken full control of the many encumbrances through the application of its technical expertise and technological know-how.
He however pleaded with communities around the railway line to bear with the CCECC for the temporary inconveniences being witnessed.
The personnel have also been moved from areas where most civil works have been completed to the Lagos area in order to meet the deadline set by the federal government.