Fed Govt Earmarks N71.6bn For Railway Projects

The Federal Government has budgeted the sum of N71.6bn for new railway projects across the country.

This is contained in the highlight of the 2022 budget of the Ministry of Transportation.

The projects as contained in the 2022 budget presented recently by President Muhammadu Buhari include the installation of acoustic sensing security surveillance system for the Abuja-Kaduna rail; completion of Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri rail track and structures and rehabilitation of Itakpe Ajaokuta rail line and permanent way (track works) in Agbor facility yard.

The two standard gauge rail lines are currently optional in Nigeria providing passenger and haulage services for the people of the axis.

These projects are independent of the railway projects for which concessionary loans are being sourced from various channels especially the China Exim Bank which funded the Abuja-Kaduna and the recently launched Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge railway.

Other projects include the design, manufacture, supply and installation of rolling stock, supply of spare parts and maintenance equipment for the ongoing rail modernization project, signal and telecoms system installation on Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri rail line, land acquisition for the Federal Ministry of Transport headquarters expansion and completion of feasibility studies and other railway related projects.

Our correspondent reports that most of the projects formed part of the railway modernization initiative of the Federal Government which has prompted the construction of standard gauge railways across the country.