Jonathan’s Inability To Complete Kaduna- Abuja Rail Line Jerked Project Cost By $626m-Amaechi

Nigeria’s Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, has accused former president Goodluck Jonathan of failing to provide counterpart funding for the completed Kaduna-Abuja Rail Line.

The minister also revealed that the rail which was supposed to cost $874m gulped $1.5bn.

Amaechi who made the revelation on Channels Television’s ‘Mondaynight’ programme said Jonathan’s delay in releasing the counterpart fund had frustrated the progress of the project.

He said, “When we came, part of the project was abandoned for the inability of the government to produce the counterpart funding.

“So what the government did was to release the counterpart funding and money for the extra work we needed to do.

“We had to buy the locomotives and coaches to enable us to commence commercial activities. For the Kaduna-Abuja, they lent $500 million.”

The 186 kilometer long project was estimated to cost  $874m.

China‘s EXIM bank had provided $500m as a concessionary loan for the project, while the Federal Government under Jonathan was to provide the $374m balance.

The  Kaduna-Abuja rail contract was awarded in December 2010, while track laying for the single standard gauge line was officially launched in July 2013.

According to reports, the rail line construction was 68 per cent complete by July 2013 with the earthwork and hydraulic structures for the project 92 per cent and 87 per cent complete respectively.

By October 2014, 85 per cent of the construction was finished and final works were concluded by early December.

But Amaechi said, since President Muhammadu Buhari took over office in 2015, the rail line “took us about $1bn so we had to cough out the remaining money.”

This increases the project cost to $1.5bn as the extra $626m was used for the “extra work we needed to do.”