The $1.6billion Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge may be ready in April 2020, the Federal Government hinted yesterday.
Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Ameachi disclosed this during the monthly inspection of the project.
The inspection took the team from Lagos to Ibadan where the 157-kilometer project terminates.
Ameachi said,”We will be out of this place latest by April 2020. We are no longer giving ourselves the time. The contractors are the ones giving us the time.
“The initial contract was from Ebute Meta but because we wanted it to end at the seaports, we extended it and that is where the challenges are.
“The fact is that they can get to Ebute Meta soon but getting there without getting to Apapa will not achieve much because we need to clear the gridlock and the easiest way to do it is to get the track to the seaports, that way, cargoes will be loaded to wagons and taken to Ibadan and thank God we have gotten contract for Ibadan-Kano, as soon as we get the money, we will start work and the gridlock will be cleared,” Ameachi said.
According to him, there has been a huge improvement in the project being undertaken by the China Civil Engineering and Construction Corporation (CCECC).
He said the focus is now on the completion of stations in the Ogun and Ibadan axes where track laying had since been completed.
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