The federal government has announced the postponement of the commissioning of Port Harcourt – Aba Train services which was earlier scheduled to be done by the end of March 2024.
Mr Saidu Alkali, the transportation minister made this known in Port Harcourt on Friday after inspecting the project. He however registered his disappointments at the contractors as they failed to deliver the service within the stipulated time frame initially agreed.
He said “This is my second time visiting Port Harcourt to inspect the progress of the (Port Harcourt-Aba) railway line since assuming office as the minister of transportation.
“The contractor initially committed to a March start date, but during track inspections, they made some observations necessitating the extension of the start date to April.
“The contractor has now committed to an April launch for the Port Harcourt to Aba railway services,” he added.
The minister also revealed plans to link the both Port Harcourt and Onne seaports to the Port Harcourt to Aba rail track.
“We are not satisfied with the failure of the contractor to deliver the work on the agreed deadline.
“The contractor promised delivery of the project by March, but if they can deliver it in April, then I think that we can manage that.
“We started with the 15 per cent component in fixing the Port Harcourt to Aba rail section, but we are now, focusing on linking the line to Port Harcourt and Onne Ports,” the minister explained.
When asked about the Calabar-Enugu-Abuja standard gauge rail line, which was also awarded by the past administration, the Minister said efforts were ongoing to finalise the funding.
“We are trying to sort out the financing because there is no way you can start the project without making all arrangements for the finances, so as soon as the finance is ready, we are going to start.
“Like I said earlier, this is the second time we are coming here for inspection, and Port Harcourt is in this part of the country, and that alone shows how serious and committed we are in delivering the projects in all parts of the country.”
Recall that the Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Fidet Okhiria, had earlier assured also that the project would be ready by the end of March.
In his words, he said “What I can tell Nigerians is that we were able to ride on a train, unlike last time when we went by road to Aba. We went on a train to Elelewa because we had other things to do,” he said.
“We looked at the Port Harcourt Port and see how we are going to access Onne from Elelewa. We did that and compared it to what they had put on ground as a preliminary design. Physical siting will make us make a quick decision on a final design so that we will be able to recommend to the minister for approval.
“We just finished a meeting now and the timeline and everything. We are putting pressure that by the end of March, we should be able to start. That is what we have in mind.”
