By Uzor Odigbo
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has directed trailers obstructing construction into the Nigerian ports to stay away.
The minister lamented that trailers have continued to park along the rail line connecting the ports which has impeded the work at the facility.
Amaechi stated this during an inspection tour of ongoing railway projects along the standard gauge on Saturday.
He said, “We are having problems. If you walk with us into the ports, you will see trailers parked on the track. It is important that the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority ensures that everybody leaves the work area until we complete it.
“Secondly, the moment we complete it, we cannot allow anyone drive over our track except they are carrying cargoes imported or we are exporting. Let’s complete the entire thing. If we do, we can deal with issue of discipline.”
Similarly, the Minister tasked the contractors in the project, the Chinese Construction Engineering Corporation to make sure the projects meet global standards, as he stressed that he was proud of the work so far on the rail.
He also said that there was a limit of tonnage that would be allowed to go on the road. He said the reason it has not been implemented was that there was no alternative. But when the alternative comes to play, one can’t use the road with a high capacity of tonnage.
On the Eastern rail line, he said on March 9, the foundation stone would be laid, explaining that the exercise would precede front-end engineering and subsequently construction.
He said if the lines get to Aba, then the trains would commence work till it gets to Maiduguri and Yobe.
He said that the president was considering another connection to Abakaliki and Awka, though approval had not been given.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Railway Corporation has put plans together to operate 16 trips daily along the Lagos-Ibadan rail when it is fully operational.
Managing Director of NRC, Okhiria,
said, “When we start fully, we will have eight trains coming down and going up on a daily basis, making 16. We are hoping that within the next week we will increase it to two up, two down and that time, we will be able to stop at Agege.
“We will be able to stop at Lagos, Agege, Abeokuta, and Ibadan. People will then be able to buy tickets at Agege. The passenger turnout is low but we are increasing it to two because people do not travel at the same time.
