Hyacinth Chinweuba
The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, has said that government is making remarkable progress having completed laying of 123km of the 156 km stretch of the Lagos-Ibadan standard guage rail project.
Amaechi made the disclosure during his routine inspection of the project along Kila, Olodo, Ilugun corridor of the track in the outskirts of Ogun State.
He said the project had been completed up to Kila village, a settlement on the outskirts of Ogun towards Oyo State.
“We are already moving towards Ibadan, the track laying is now in Kila, a town on the outskirts of Ogun.
“In less than a month from now, we should be in Ibadan with the rate the work is going,” he said.
The Minister also said that he would inspect the Apapa port and its connection to the standard guage rail to address the challenges of traffic gridlock in the area.
“We will be visiting the ports tomorrow to address some of the issues we have there.
“It’s imperative that the Apapa ports must be connected to the standard guage rail to ensure proper movement of cargoes,” Amaechi said.
The minister had during one of his inspection tours on April 8 blamed the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) for the slow pace of work in the ongoing project.
According to him, the Federal Government plans to commence transportation of cargoes from the sea ports through the standard rail gauge by December.