The Federal Government of Nigeria has approved the two narrow gauge rail lines to be rehabilitated by General Electric (GE) being the Preferred bidder. The firm which received its letter of award from the government early this year would run the gauge rail for a period of 30 years.
The agreement is being drafted and once it is concluded, but parties would signed the agreement then the repair of the narrow gauge rail would commence.
The concession would see the firm invest over $2.2bn in the two major narrow gauge rail lines that traverse several sections of the country. Outlining some of the projects embarked upon by his ministry while hosting a delegation from Singapore at his office in Abuja on Thursday, the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, stated that GE would start operating in Nigeria in two months’ time.
The President/CEO, GE Transportation, Jamie Miller, had in May while receiving the letter of award, stated, “One trunk of the line from Lagos to Kano will pass through several states like Ogun, Oyo, Kwara, Niger, Kaduna, and Kano.
Also, there are on going plans by the federal government to negotiate a $6bn loan with China for the construction of the Ibadan to Kano rail line, adding that it was in talks with Julius Berger for the full rehabilitation of airports across the country.
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