The federal government plans to spend over N38bn on the repayment of the loan for the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge line, according to the details of the 2023 budget presented recently by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The loan repayment was tagged, “Multilateral/Bilateral Project Tied Loans for the Nigerian Railway Modernisation (Lagos-Ibadan section) in the budget of the Ministry of Transportation.
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This is just as the government budgeted a total sum of N30.7bn for various ongoing railway projects across the country, including security along some railway corridors.
Daily Trust reports that President Buhari had in June last year commissioned the $2.1bn 156km railway line with an extension to Apapa Port constructed by China Civil Engineering and Construction Corporation (CCECC).
It reported that despite the commissioning of the project, the government is yet to link it to the port following encumbrances.
The ministry and NRC had assured that the lifting of cargoes on the standard gauge line would commence in August, but it was yet to be almost two months after.
The CCECC had recently urged the National Assembly to prevail on the Ministry of Transportation to release the outstanding $300m for the outstanding works, which comprise 27 pedestrian bridges and seven bridges in Lagos and Ogun states.
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