General Electric Pulls Out Of Nigeria’s N2bn Rail Project
A major setback has hit Nigeria’s N2 billion narrow gauge railway project as General Electric has pulled out of its concession deal with the Federal Government.
According to reports, General Electric has handed the deal over to South African Transnet SOC Limited, following the sale of its arm of business that handles railway construction.
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Reports also have it that GE had pulled out of the concession deal for some time now, but that the Federal Government had been keeping the setback confidential.
The government had signed the deal with GE to construct two railway lines to connect northern cities to others in the South.
THE WHISTLER recalls that during the recent 24th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES24), Nigeria’s Transport Minister, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, had disclosed that the railway project was suffering one setback or the other.
“We met GE and GE told us that for 11 years, we have been begging the federal government to concession the narrow gauge to us, and they have refused,” Mr Amaechi had said at the summit.
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“And I told them, we would concession it to you tomorrow if you are ready. They said they are ready. Six months, we have finished all documentation, and everything we needed to do, but GE slowed us down.
“The president even fired the then DPP because he was becoming a clog in the process of ensuring that we succeeded. We were at the verge of concessioning, when GE transport collapsed, or they sold it.
“You people are businessmen, I don’t want to say the one that they would say it affected the economy, but they are no longer there to deal with us.
“Then Transnet took over because Transnet was part of the consortium, and we met on Friday, and we were to meet today (Monday), but if you read your papers, the just fired the head of Transnet.
“So, I said, what is this witchcraft? And they have now summoned the team back to South Africa. We have made progress, we are at the verge of completion. Today, we would have been looking at the draft agreement,” the Minister had said.
