By Favour Nnabugwu
President Muhammadu Buhari will be commissioning the Lagos-Ibadan rail-line in January 2021.
Minister of Transport, Mr Chibuikem Amaechi made this known during an inspection tour of the ongoing construction of the standard gauge in Lagos-Ibadan rail-liney yesterday
“We have cooperation from the various communities along the standard gauge construction; the contractors have done what they could do but the problem is change in weather
“They couldn’t work beyond that period, besides that, I think the contractors have done well.
“The construction is coming to an end; they are trying to beat the target they gave the ministry of transportation because there is huge improvement.
“Is there any facility in Nigeria that is better than the one in Ebute-Meta,?” he asked.
He attributed weather conditions as one of the challenges being faced by the contractors despite the effort of the contractors who have done their best with the project,
He said that it could be difficult to embark on perimeters fencing, adding that the fence constructed in Warri had been pulled down by hoodlums.
TheChairman, Board of Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), Alhaji Ibrahim Musa said in the course of the project, the management of NRC sat with Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) and agreed on areas where overhead crossing and bridges would be constructed
“For instance, we constructed new two line bridges at Costain and brought down the old ones to enable us have access.
“As we are coming, you can see that passengers’ movement are under the track, while in some places we could see overhead bridges from Lagos to Ibadan in consideration of human and goods trafficking along the corridors,” he said
Musa said that although people were still asking for more access to the corridor, they however would be considered based on merit and the finances available on ground.
The Director of Railway, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Mr Babakobi Muhammed said the ministry officials held meetings with transportation ministries of Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states to ensure safe corridor for the train
