TheCable

Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, says the federal government is working towards securing a loan for the upgrade of the eastern rail lines.

On May 16, the senate summoned Amaechi over the alleged exclusion of the eastern rail lines from upgrade.

Enyinnaya Abaribe, a senator from Abia state, had said eastern rail which connects the south-east to the north-eastern part of the country was not considered.

On May 19, the transport ministry in a statement said the federal government did not exclude the eastern rail lines from its plan to upgrade the country’s rail lines.

Appearing before a senate committee chaired by Shehu Sani, senator representing Kaduna central, Amaechi said President Muhammadu Buhari had already approved that loan be obtained for work to begin on the railway.

He explained that government would need about $7 million to rehabilitate the eastern rail lines.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has approved for us to look for the fund for the eastern flank,” he said.

“$7 million is about what we need for the modernisation of the eastern rail corridor.”

The minister further explained that the Buhari administration met rail contracts already awarded in different regions of the country by the governments of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, which the current government had started executing.

He also said there were plans by the government to transform major train stations into commercial hubs.