The 156-kilometer Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge project is 60 per cent completed, Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi has disclosed, raising further hope of completion of the project before the end of the year.
Amaechi said about 90 per cent of earth work had been completed from Iju in Lagos to Abeokuta, Ogun State, adding that by the end of September, the remaining 10 per cent would have been completed and all the bridges from the axis would have been constructed.
The minister spoke during his monthly inspection of the project and meeting with the China Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCECC), the contractor handling the project.
It would be recalled that the National Assembly Joint Committee on Land Transport said recently it was unsure if the December completion date is realistic.
But Amaechi told newsmen that all things being equal the contractor was being pressed to deliver the project in one year though the project has three-year span.
He stated that the laying of tracks had reached 12 kilometers. Though he said he was not impressed with the pace of tracks laying, he explained that based on assurance from the contractor, the track laying would not take much time so far as the earth work has been completed.
He said: “This is a three-year contract and they have done 60 percent in less that one year. There is no extension because the agreement has already given them three years, how can you now say that they request extension?
“All we are saying is that we are pushing for one year out of the three because they agreed with us in China that they construct 1000km of rail per year and this is just 156 km. So they should deliver this…”
“We are progressing and you will agree with us that we felt they have slowed down and the argument is that there is no way they would have done earth work during the raining season”.
Amaechi added that laying of tracks is not an issue but the completion of stations, saying, “They may finish the tracks without the stations but that doesn’t mean that we should commission because when they finish the tracks and we are able to run the trains, where will the passengers engage with the trains?
“There must be a station, we have discussed it, they will commence and I hope that they will complete it before December”.
