FEC Approves $3.02bn For Port Harcourt/Maiduguri Rail Project

The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday, approved $3.02billion for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Eastern Narrow Gauge railway.

A separate $703.1million was also approved for the construction of a deep seaport at Bonny and a railway industrial park in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The funding of the two projects will be by Public/Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

Wednesday’s virtual FEC meeting was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking on the approvals, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, told State House Correspondents that the PPP-funded projects would be executed at $241.2m (industrial park) and $461.9m (Bonny deep seaport) respectively.

He gave details, “The Federal Executive Council FEC has approved the award of contracts for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri eastern narrow gauge railway, with new branch lines and trans-shipment facilities.

“They have also approved the construction of a new deep seaport in Bonny, under PPP and the construction of a railway industrial park in Port Harcourt.

“The railway line will be at the cost of $3,020,279,549. The industrial park, which is under PPP, at no cost to the federal government, will cost $241,154,389.31. The Bonny deep seaport will cost $461,924,369, at no cost to the federal government.

“The Port Harcourt to Maiduguri narrow gauge railway will have new branch lines: from Port Harcourt to Bonny and from Port Harcourt to Owerri are new lines. There is another connecting narrow gauge to standard gauge at Kafanchan. There is a branch line from Gombe or before Maiduguri to Damaturu and Gashau. That’s what has been approved.”

Also speaking after the meeting, Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, said the session approved the setting up of two shoes, garments and leather processing hubs in Aba and Janguza, in Abia and Kano states, under a PPP arrangement.

He said, “The Council approved the Full Business Skills Compliance Certificate issued by Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Abuja, for the design, finance, upgrade, operate, and transfer of the Nigeria Correctional Service Shoe, Garment, and Leather Processing Factory located in Aba, Abia State as well as Janguza, Kano State under a Public Private Partnership (PPP).

“This full business skills certificate and the investment that will come therefrom amount to N5.1 billion. Invariably, when the partnership comes into effect, the benefit is enormous. About 1,330 people will have direct employment, while about 3,000 people will have indirect employment.

“The benefit beside the employment of Nigerians is the opportunity for training of the inmates of our correctional facilities in Janguza, Kano State and Aba in Abia State. The contract for full business skills compliance certificate is given to Messrs LG Investment Limited, a Nigerian company which is partnering with a Chinese company, Full Technology Incorporated from Beijing, China.”

on his part, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, said the meeting approved the contract for the procurement and installation of automotive/mechatronics equipment in special centres in six geopolitical zones, as well as three pilot workshops and automotive service hubs for the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) at the cost of N1.8 billion.

He explained, “The whole idea is that with the kind of vehicles being manufactured today, we need training institutes that will train our mechanics and our youths how to maintain and service these vehicles”.
The Minister of Information and

Speaking on behalf of his Federal Capital Territory Administration, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said the meeting also approved the award and contract of the final design of engineering infrastructure and production of tendered documents for Kabusa district phase three of the FCT, Abuja.

He stated that the district was an area of about 850 hectares, which would be mixed for the use of both private and government, residential and offices.

He added, “It was approved for the sum of N183, 709, 480, 50k to Messrs Techno Engineering and Consult Limited.”

Mohammed also briefed on behalf of the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Siriki, on the approval for the rehabilitation of various screening machines nationwide at the cost of N654 million.

He stated, “You would notice that with the incident of COVID-19 pandemic, a new protocol sanctioned by IATA and other Aviation authorities has now come into our airports which entails more of social distancing. So you need more points to screen passengers and their luggages. So this is what has necessitated the rehabilitation of those screening machines that have broken down.”

The information minister also briefed on behalf of the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, saying that council approved a memo for the completion of the rehabilitation of the Abeokuta-Ibadan road, a distance of 72 kilometers.

He explained, “It was a memo asking for augmentation by N788 million to bring the project cost to N4.78 billion plus six months extention time for construction. So we hope that by 2021, this road will be completed. You need to note also that this was a contract that was awarded in 2010 but due to paucity of funds and other constraints, we have to take it over.”

Mohammed added that the Secretary to the Government of their Federation, Boss Mustapha, who presented a memo on behalf of President Buhari, also presented a memo which was approved seeking Council’s approval for the purchase of 21 operational vehicles for the Federal Road Safety Corps in favour of Messrs Pan Nigeria Ltd in total sum of N292,615 million.

“The purpose of the memo is to enhance the operational capability and capacity of the Corps so that we can stop the carnage on our roads and also secure our roads better.

“The unique thing about this memo is that these vehicles are being sourced from one of our local assemble plants, Peugeot Nigeria Ltd in Kaduna.”