Amaechi Blames Procurement Act For Delay In Eastern Rail Project

The Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, has revealed that the delay in the execution of the Eastern rail line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri in the ongoing nationwide rail construction/modernisation by the Federal Government was caused by bureaucratic bottleneck caused by the Public Procurement Act.

Amaechi, who appeared before the joint Senate Committee on Land Transport, and Local and Foreign Debts on Tuesday, debunked allegations that the region was excluded from the nationwide project.

The former Governor of Rivers State explained that the Procurement Act is a very tedious one, which takes a long time to conclude the process.

THE WHISTLER recalls that the Senate had, last week, mandated the joint Committee to summon the Minister to clarify the alleged exclusion of the Eastern rail line, which was captured in the foreign loan that was obtained by President Muhammadu Buhari for that purpose.

The Upper Legislative Chamber took the decision following its consideration and adoption of a motion moved by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who drew the attention of the Chamber to the perceived injustice to the Eastern flank of the rail project.

It would be recalled that in 2017, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, had raised a similar motion on the floor of the Senate.

In his motion, Abaribe accused the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led executive arm of government of deliberately marginalising the South Eastern part of the Nigeria.

Accordingly, the Senate then, summoned Amaechi to appear before its Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts.

At his appearance, Amaechi, who told the lawmakers that there was no plan to exclude the Eastern region from the rail project, assured the Committee that the area would be captured in the 2018 borrowing plans of the Federal Government.

However, bringing up the issue again last week in the Senate, Ekweremadu noted that the exclusion of the Eastern Corridor was a dangerous signal, indicating that certain parts of the country were favoured more than others.

Ekweremadu, therefore, implored the Upper Chamber to intervene and prevail on the relevant Committees to meet with the Minister and ensure a reversal of the trend.

However, while appearing before the joint Committee, which was chaired by Senator Gbenga Ashafa, Amaechi noted that Buhari had always insisted that the rule of law be followed to the letter.

He also pointed out that railway project is very capital intensive, adding that the Federal Government did not have sufficient fund to implement the railway projects across the country at the same time.

He explained that, following the inadequacy of funds confronting the government, the current administration had decided to adopt a systematic approach in the project execution.

He said that it was as the loan was approved, then government would apply the fund and do what it could afford.

“The President insists on rule of law and the law passed by the National Assembly in terms of public procurement is very tedious, and not easy to conclude. It takes a very long time.

“Similarly, the law passed by the National Assembly on the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) is very tedious. We have met with both GE and the consortium handling the project for nearly two years.

“Secondly, in that meeting we had in 2017, I reassured our people that they are not more Igbo than I. Let me make it clear, the country does not have the resources to do railway in every village. It is not possible. $2.7 billion is one trillion Naira.

“So, for the railway you want to do from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, is about $12 billion, and that is one year budget of Nigeria. Therefore, everything is done systematically.

“We can’t do all the projects at the same time. What we are doing is as we get the loan approved, we execute the project. Currently, we are following due process for the one of South East.

“Currently we have placed an advertisement on the Eastern Rail lines. Sometime in 2017, we placed an advertisement for rail from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri and that is what the law expects us to do. We can’t skip the law on construction of standard gauge.

“Again, even the narrow gauge construction does not only concern the the South East. The same narrow gauge transversed Port Harcourt to Maiduguri. I don’t know what other thing the Senate expects from me on this project, except to say that it is work in progress.

“We are not magicians, and the current law we have insists on the number of times we shall advertise a project. We completed the project. We pass it to Bureau for Public Procurement, which, in turn, will be referred to us before we go to the cabinet for presentation, and I think we are set to go to the cabinet for approval,” he said.

On the insinuation that General Electric (GE) has pulled out of the project, Amaechi explained that the Company handed over the contract to another sister company because it was no longer in the transport business.

“It (GE) handed over the job to another sister company in the consortium, which is Trans-net. We are at the verge of signing the contract agreement, and it is when we finish signing the consortium agreement that we will begin to look for money to execute the project.

“The total cost of the project is $2.7 billion, and it is a private partnership agreement,” he noted.

In his remark, Ashafa expressed satisfaction with the explanation given by Amaechi.

He, however, urged him to ensure that no section of the country was excluded from the rail project.