The InfoStride Forum

(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/pix-1.jpg)Honourable Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar and entourage inspecting laid tracks in Enugu One thing even the ardent critics of this Administration will not fail to acknowledge is that tremendous progress is being made in the rail sub sector of the economy. Undoubtedly, the resuscitation of the Lagos to Kano rail services also known as the Western line in December last year is one of the major achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan Administration.

Unlike previous botched promises regarding the completion date of the project, dogged determination, adequate funding coupled with close monitoring finally brought the project to fruition on the 22nd of December, 2012.

Since then, despite the seeming long duration of the service from Lagos to Kano, the service has continued to enjoy huge patronage from passengers who are yearning to have the frequency increased. (It takes about 32 hours to conclude the journey and currently operates once a week).

Within these 5 months that the service commenced, over 57,000 commuters have been moved. So, with the successful completion of the rehabilitation of the of  the Western line of the 1,126kilometers , the emphasis is on rehabilitating the Eastern rail line, spanning from Port Harcourt in the South South  to Maiduguri in the North East covering a distance of 1443kilometers.

In order to ensure that the Western and the Eastern corridors are functional therefore, the contract for the rehabilitation for the Eastern line was awarded in 2011 to 3 contractors divided into 3 lots: Lot 1 Port Harcourt-Aba-Umuahia-Enugu-Makurdi, a distance of about 463 kilometers awarded to  Eser Contracting and Industry Company incorporated  at a cost of N19b; Lot 2 Makurdi-Lafia-Kuru with spur to Jos and Kafanchan to Kaduna, a distance of 554 kilometers was awarded to CGGC Global Projects at N24 B and Lot 3 Kuru-Bauchi-Gombe-Ashaka-Maiduguri a distance of 640 kms awarded to Lingo Nigeria Limited at a cost of N23b.

However, since the award, funding and logistics constraints have militated against the effective take off of the rehabilitation works until 2012 when the funding improved substantially.

(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/pix-4-300x198.jpg)Rail tracks and sleepers ready for use at Railway Terminal in port Harcourt The current Minister of Transport, Senator Idris A. Umar has now transferred the zeal that saw to the completion of the Western corridor to the Eastern line. In a space of 3 days, from Thursday 25th to Sunday 28th April, 2013, Senator Idris Umar, along with his team which included his working partner in the Ministry, the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport Engineer Nebolisa Emodi, a Civil Engineer by profession, accompanied by the Managing Director of the Nigerian railway Corporation (NRC) Engineer Adeseyi Sijuwade, also a Civil Engineer, Director of Civil Engineering at NRC Engineer Ahmadu, Government Inspector of Railways (GIR), Engineer Ikechukwu Oradiegwu and other technocrats  in the Ministry and the Corporation embarked on an assessment of on-going rehabilitation works on the project to ensure that the 2013 target for the completion of the rail tracks on the corridor remained realizable.

His assessment tour took him first to the Port Harcourt Station of the NRC where he was conducted round the premises by the Regional District Manager (RDM) of the Eastern District, Enugu, Mr. Felix Njoku.  Mr. Njoku showed him round the stack of imported rail tracks, clips, etc. that were already imported.

(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/pix-2.jpg)Honourable Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar and entourage inspecting work done on erosion control site The Project Manager of ESER, Mr. Husyeni Sayr, informed the Minister that the company had enough materials on ground to finish the job in time but was awaiting the arrival of steel sleepers which were expected by the end of May 2013.

The team moved to Km 63 at Aba, which had ecological problems where gully erosion had cut off the rail line and a massive drainage channel, about 443meters long, was being constructed.

The Project Manager however lamented that activities of thieves, who specialized in stealing the (Pandrol) clips were affecting the smooth operation of the contractors because they often had to replace those clips many times over to keep the work going.

The sore point of the visit was the ballast stones that form the base of the rail lines which was getting to be a problem as the quarry site at Ishiagu in Ebonyi State, which served the entire rehabilitation effort in the Lot 1 was reportedly under seige by some men laying claim of ownership to the NRC quarry.

The Honourable Minister, however, promised to liaise with the Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief Martin Elechi to resolve the issues in order not to jeopardize the project.

(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/pix-5-300x198.jpg)Honourable Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar and entourage inspecting imported rail tracks Railway Terminal in port Harcourt He also instructed the MD NRC to ensure that the  Railway Police Command are readily available for the portion of the tracks being rehabilitated to prevent further stealing of the components.

Inspection of Lot 3 (Kuru to Maiduguri) took Senator Umar and his team to the Government House Gombe where he was received by the Deputy Governor of the State, Mr. Jason Rubainu. There, Senator Umar said that the Goodluck Jonathan Administration is doing what has not been done in 3 decades in the rail sector by way of funding commitments. Mr. Rubainu remarked that it was obvious that Mr. President cared for Nigeria, with what is going on in the rail sector. He also praised the Ministry of Transport for supporting Mr. President in this course.

He continued, "For a long time, it is only this Government that recognizes that movement of goods and humans are of great importance and has, therefore, invested funds. The Eastern and Western corridors will unite Nigerians, encourage tourism and give the Nigerian people choices". The Deputy Governor also encouraged the worthy son of Gombe who is at the helm of affairs in the Ministry of Transport to continue to prove his worth.

The excitement of the Government House was, however, dampened by what the Transport Minister saw on the field. While inspecting the Bauchi– Gombe – Bajorga rail (part of the Lot 3 handled by Lingo Nigeria Limited) the Minister expressed his disappointment at the level of work done and did not hide his feelings by saying "this is not acceptable, not good at all".

Project Manager of Lingo, Architect Jerry Nweke blamed the slow level of work on security challenges which forced some of the expatriate staff to withdraw, coupled with late arrival of some of the imported key components of the project. He however, assured the Minister that by the end of May, the job would have been 60% concluded, especially as Government does not owe them any money.

Lot 2 Makurdi to Kuru 554Kms with spur line to Jos and Kafanchan to Kaduna junction handled by CGGC was the next port of call.

At the Kafanchan junction, which is the intersection point for both the Western and Eastern lines, the Honourable Minister noted that despite the low level of performance due to late supply of offshore equipment (particularly the sleepers) which are expected by the end of May 2013, the end of the year deadline is still realizable.

In Lafia where the Minister's team was joined by the Commissioner for Works and Transport, Engineer Wada Mohammed, they inspected culverts built along the track to tackle problems of erosion. The inspection also covered the portion of this track where the market at Lafia has extended into coupled with the dumping of human refuse and waste.

The Minister then appealed to the Commissioner to use his good offices to ensure that the traders were relocated away from the railway line.

In the Minister's overall assessment of the project (Port Harcourt – Maiduguri rail line), Senator Umar said that with what he has seen, the target of the end of 2013 for full rehabilitation still remained realizable. He also allayed fears that there were not enough coaches and wagons to ply the routes by saying that Government through the NRC had placed orders for wagons, Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) which are modern passenger trains with advantages of low maintenance cost, fuel efficiency, and durability, among others that will ply these routes when completed and their arrival will coincide with the completion of the project.

This much was corroborated by the MD NRC Engineer Adeseyi Sijuwade. According to Sijuwade, "from what we have seen, we are quite confident that the target would be met particularly from the level of infrastructure work, that is drainages, culverts,, bridges, that have been put in place. The actual re-laying of the track itself is the simplest part of the work and that's why we remain optimistic that the target would be met."

Senator Umar has high hopes that the services would be sustained as NRC had raised the morale of the staff with training programmes and recruitment of new staff into the Nigerian Railway Corporation. This was also corroborated by the President of the Chairman of the National Union of Railway Workers (Port Harcourt and Aba branches), Comrade Woyengi Ikoni who said that he and his colleagues in the East are ready for work like their counterparts in the Western corridor.

Furthermore, funding which used to be a major hindrance to successful execution of projects is no longer a problem as adequate funds have been set aside in both the 2013 budget as well as from the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).

Senator Umar also used the occasion to mention on-going efforts of the Federal Government at railway modernization. This includes on-going works at Abuja to Kaduna; Itakpe – Ajaokuta –Warri; Lagos – Ibadan as well as Feasibility Studies on other routes in the country, notably

I.      Lagos – Shagamu – Ijebu-Ode – Ore – Benin City (300 km);

II.      Benin – Agbor – Onitsha – Nnewi – Owerri – Aba with additional `     line     from Onitsha – Enugu – Abakaliki (500 km);

III.   Lagos – Ibadan – Oshogbo – Baro – Abuja; High Speed (615 Km)

IV.           Ajaokuta (Eganyi) – Obajana – Jakura – Baro – Abuja with additional line from Ajaokuta – Otukpo (533 km);

V.      Zaria – Kaura Namoda – Sokoto – Illela – Birnin Koni (520 km).

VI.       Coastal Railway Line:  Benin – Sapele – Warri – Yenegoa – Port Harcourt – Aba – Uyo –       Calabar – Akampa – Ikom – Obudu Cattle Ranch (673 Km)

VII.   Ajaokuta – Eganyi – Lokoja – Abaji – Abuja (280 Km)

It is expected that as soon as these studies are completed sometime in this third Quarter of this year, their reports and Outline Business Case (OBC) will form the basis for advertisement for the expression of interest by potential investors for the corridors under a Public Private Participation (PPP) arrangement.

If the present level of commitment is sustained in the rail sector, the sector is capable of driving the average socio-economic transformation which the country earnestly needs.

Via: Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria