TheCable

China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) says it has won a $1.68 billion contract to upgrade and modernise the Kano-kaduna segment of the Lagos-Kano rail line.

According to the statement signed by Yi Er San Ri and Liunian Jiuyue, on behalf of CCECC, the two-lane standard gauge design will travel at a maximum driving speed 150km/h.

In context, the rail line would move as fast as travelling from Lagos to Ibadan in 48 mins. This is expected to be faster than the Kaduna-Abuja rail line.

CCECC also signed a contract worth $3.4 billion for the construction of the Calabar-Port Harcourt Segment 1, which aims to extend the rail line between Calabar and Port Harcourt to Onne Deep Seaport.

In 2006, the company signed the Nigerian Railway Modernization Project, to upgrade and modernise transportation between Lagos-Ibadan, Ibadan-Ilorin, Ilorin-Minna, Minna-Abuja, Abuja-Kaduna, and Kaduna to Kano.

The contract was signed at $8.3 billion at the time, only for the Nigerian government to ask for the suspension of the project in 2008.

According to CCECC, the government later negotiated for the implementation of the Lagos-Ibadan, and Abuja-Kaduna segments of the project.

The Abuja-Kaduna rail line was delivered on July 13, 2016, while the Lagos-Ibadan segment remain uncompleted.

In a statement on Thursday, Rotimi Amaechi, minister for transportation, said the newly signed projects would be concluded in two years.

On Friday, CCECC said the project will be concluded in 36 months (three years), contradicting Amaechi’s position.

On Monday, the same Chinese owned company, announced that it had won the $1.851 billion Kano city light rail project.