Nigerian govt explains why work on $1.96bn Maiduguri-Port Harcourt rail project was stalled

The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, said on Monday the inability of the Federal Government to obtain foreign counterpart funding derailed work on the narrow guage eastern railway corridor from Maiduguri to Port Harcourt.

The former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, had on several occasions, said the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri line would be delivered before the present administration leaves office on May 29, 2023.

President Muhammad Buhari had also assured Nigerians in 2020 that the $1.96 billion rail project would be completed before he leaves office.

Sambo, who addressed State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja, however, said the non-availability of the counterpart funding which was embedded in the project would make it difficult for the government to complete the project before the expiration of its tenure next year.

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He said: “The question relating to the promise to deliver the eastern line narrow gauge before the end of this administration; now, the eastern line is the line from Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, it has been segmented in such a way that the first part of the works covers from Port Harcourt to Enugu.

“Now, the truth of the matter is that if there was a promise to deliver this line before the end of this administration, this promise is no longer feasible because, when the contract was approved, it was approved on the premise that 85 percent will be funded through foreign loan, while 15 percent will be the counterpart funding for the national budget.

“Since that approval, we have not been able to obtain that 85 percent foreign loans for this project.

“We have been funding it through the national budget on the basis of the 15 percent counterpart funding of the federal government. And therefore, funding has been a major challenge for this project.”

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