Abuja – Nigeria’s Minister for Transport, Chibuike Amaechi, had disclosed Thursday that the Federal Government needs a total of $36 billion to complete its rail projects across the country. The Minister made this statement at the National Assembly while responding to the lawmakers on the Federal Government’s bid to borrow $5.5billion. He said: “If you put it all together, the total cost of the entire rail projects will amount to about $36 billion. Actually, we don’t have the money but it’s an ambitious plan. We really have to start something somewhere and see how far we go.”
Amaechi also said President Muhammadu Buhari had directed that the rail line be extended to cover all the 36 state capitals and informed the Shehu Sani-led Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts that part of the $5.5 billion loan being sought would fund the Itakpe to Warri, Kano to Kaduna and Port Harcourt to Calabar aspects of the rail projects.
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Buhari had in a letter to the Senate, requesting approval for the loan stated that the projects for which the $2.5 billion part of the $5.5 billion was being sought, was to fund the Mambilla Hydropower Project, construct a second runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, counterpart funding for rail projects and fund the construction of the Bode-Bonny Road, with a bridge across the Opobo Channel.
