Roughly five years ago the
Federal Government secured the sum of $849,750,903.00 (about N170 billion) from
the Chinese Export and Import Bank
for the construction of a 186-kilometre standard gauge rail line from Abuja to
Kaduna. According to the contract agreement signed with the Government on
October 22, 2009, the Chinese construction firm, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), was
expected to complete the job in 46 months, which should have been in December
2014. The project is two years behind schedule, and most important aspects are
still under construction.
The Chinese government was
expected to release the loan in tranches and in the form of physical materials
provisioning, such as steel rail tracks, structural equipment, earth movers,
concrete bridges, Chinese trucks, concrete sleepers, precast T-beams, for the
laying of rail tracks. Nigeria was required to provide modern railway engines,
cabins of various categories, personnel, and frequency band for communications.
However, a number of
reasons have been adduced for the tardiness that has attended the project.
First, is the delay on the part of the Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC) to give a ‘final’ approval to the Chinese
firm through the Ministry of
Transportation for a selected frequency band wave for rail movement,
especially communication between engine drivers and ground stations. Second, is
the declining value of the naira, which makes it difficult to complete certain
contents of the bill of quantity captured with the old rates. Third is the weak
monitoring or supervision by the Federal Ministry of Transport, which has the
duty to ensure compliance to terms of implementation as well as the meeting of
schedules for completion of project as engrossed in the contract agreement. And
the fourth, is the stealing of already laid materials and equipment,
engendering growing security concerns and unforeseen additional outlay.
There are now worries that
the imported equipment from the global giant, General Electric (GE) by the last administration such as speed
train engines, new model cabins, wagons and crude carriers may rot away, unless
haste is made. The imminent abandonment of the Abuja-Kaduna rail project is a
demonstration of the lack of continuity or lack of political will to do right
by Nigerians. And this reminds the nation of the Lateef Jakande
administration’s laudable metro line project in Lagos on which the country had
to incur twice the amount the project would have cost as payment for sheer
violation of the contract, when it was terminated by the then military
government.
Beyond this, a trend would
seem to be emerging in which the country is notorious for truncated projects
involving Chinese Companies or partners. For example, there is unending
renovation going on at the nation’s airports. Naturally, this can only provoke
the question: why is CCECC in Nigeria not as successful in project delivery as
its home-based parent company? President
Muhammadu Buhari in his last media chat seemed to have pointed to the cause
of the debacle when he said that Nigeria seemed not to have met her counterpart
funding part of the deals even with the favourable terms of the loans secured
from China. So, Nigeria is the problem.
It is important to note
that the completion of the Abuja-Kaduna rail project is part of the Federal
Government’s 25-year Strategic Modernisation Programme of the rail transport sector
comprising the I,342.50-kilometre Lagos-Kano rail line; 181-kilometre
Lagos-Ibadan route; the 200-kilometre Ibadan-Ilorin route; 270-kilometre
Ilorin-Minna route; 145-kilometre Minna-Abuja and finally the Minna-360
kilometre Kano-Minna rail line. This is a critical project that should not be
trifled with.
This construction must not
be discontinued like the Lagos metro line project. Apart from the fact that the
rail project is strategic, the cost of abandonment would far outweigh that of
construction. Modernisation of the railway system is a desideratum for this
country, and given its rising population, the railway remains the most viable
means of mass movement.
Importantly too, not only
must the rail system be built, capacity must also be built to sustain it. It
does not make sense to bring someone from outside to do a job for you and
subsequently rely on the same expatriate for maintenance. Countries like India
have since transformed the rail system they inherited from the colonialists,
owning it and becoming experts in the production of the critical
infrastructure.
While available information
indicates about 80 per cent completion of the laying of track, expectations are
that the remaining part of the work on track laying as well as completion of
the nine stop stations would have been completed by now. Given the current
administration’s vaunted commitment to infrastructural development, this rail
project must be the road taken and attention must be paid to its completion.
(Guardian)
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