Following the slow pace of work on the Lagos-Ibadan railway project, the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has charged Messrs China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), to deploy more men and equipment in order to fastrack the project, especially along the Ebute-Metta to Apapa seaport corridor.
The Minister gave this charge on Friday in Lagos after he undertook an emergency inspection tour of the project in the company of the Chairman of CCECC Group, Zhao Dialong, who was on a working visit to the country.While appreciating the level of work done in just four days of the last inspection, the Minister observed:
“The last time we were here, I complained about the fact that they were very slow and when their Chairman told me that he was coming to visit, I requested that we go to the project site and see how far they have gone. There is remarkable progress from the day we came till now.”
However, he continued: “moving forward, we have been saying that they should add to their manpower and deploy more equipment to commiserate with the volume of work on ground”.
On whether the completion date of the project was still feasible considering the improvement noticed, the Minister noted,
“As far as am concerned (mentally), I’m almost out of Lagos. I’m critically trying to focus on Kano-Kaduna, Ibadan-Ilorin, Ilorin to Minna and then to Abuja.”
On the legal implications of not deliverig the project at the stipulated time, the Minister adviced that rather than look at the law, emphasis should be on practicality.
“The issue about noncompletion of the project at the stipulated time frame is complex. The original time for the expiration of the contract is May, but you see, they made an argument which you cannot also fault; the argument they made was for additional works which gave them up to six months, so if you add the six months to the May expiration date, you are probably talking about next year.
So, instead of looking at the law, we should look more on practicality and compel them to speed up the pace of work.”
According to him, these additional works included: the minor stations and the underpasses which were not part of the first contractual agreement and were only added as afterthought to address the nagging problem of the Apapa gridlock.
Also speaking, the Chairman, CCECC Group, Zhao Dialong said changes in project location affected completion of the stations and tracks, adding, “We initially designed the projects so that the tracks will be done simultaneously with the stations; we even planned to finish the stations first, but we failed because of changes in location “,he explained.
Reacting to the Minister’s accusation that even materials that can be sourced locally are brought from China, the Group Chairman, CCECC, explained that most of the materials and equipment for the project can not be sourced locally.
Furthermore, he appealed to the Minister to intevene in their inability to berth their vessels due to the perennial long queues at the seaports in Lagos.In his contribution, the Managing Director, Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), Engr. Fidet Okhiria while affirming some of the observations made by the Minister, added that 9 additional flyovers and extension from Ebute-Metta to Apapa seaport have made the original set date for flag-off unrealistic.
He further informed that the inability of vessels carrying equipment for the ongoing project to berth at the port is almost resolved, adding that the recurring cases of vandalism which poses a threat to the project are also being addressed.
Dignitaries that accompanied the Minister on the assessment tour were: the Chairman, Board of Directors, Nigerian Railway Corporation, (NRC), Malam Ibrahim Al-Hassan Musa, Managing Director, CCECC Nigeria, Jiang Yi Gao, Deputy Project Manager, CCECC, Mr Lee Lijun, among others.
