FG awaits $5.3bn Chinese loan for Ibadan-Kano rail project

The Federal Government is awaiting the approval of the Chinese Government for the $5.3bn loan meant for the Ibadan-Kano rail project.

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, said this in Lagos weekend  during the inspection of the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge.

• Amaechi, Lai Mohammed inspect Lagos-Ibadan train
• No need to panic, Nigeria is already paying China loans – Amaechi

Amaechi noted that there was enough money for the Lagos-Ibadan project.

He said: “So we have no problem with this project (Lagos-Ibadan). So when we talked to the National Assembly to stop this their investigation of loans, they are not investigating corruption in construction,  it’s the issue of loan, what we meant is that they should please allow us to get the loan for Ibadan to Kano which is about $5.3bn.”

Amaechi, who was asked about timeline for the delivery of the project was however evasive, said the project would be commissioned when completed.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government had said the project would be delivered on April 2020 before the COVID-19 outbreak stalled the project.

Amaechi explained that the COVID-19 pandemic was an unexpected force majeure which stalled the timely completion of the project, disclosing that many train stations which used to have about 150 to 200 workers now have between 10 and 15 workers because of COVID-19.

He asked the contractor, the China Civil Engineering and Construction Corporation, to deploy more workers on site and provide them with personal protective equipment like face masks and shields, saying the COVID-19 had come to stay and they must learn to work with it.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said there was nothing bad in borrowing as long as the loan was invested in infrastructure improvement.

He said the loans secured by the Federal Government around the world were not meant for services or overhead expenditure.

There had been misgivings in recent times over the increasing foreign loans especially the ones taken from China.

Mohammed said he was inspired with the project, stating that there was no better way to respond to those criticising the loan than to showcase what had been achieved with the loan.