The Federal Government has declared that freight services are about to commence on the Lagos-Kano small gauge rail route.
During the on-the-spot inspection of the project in Kano State on Thursday, the contractors disclosed this to the Minister of Transportation, Saidu Alkali.
The line has been connected to the Zawaciki Dala Dry Port in Kano, the state’s commercial center, according to an update from the contractors, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.
According to the minister, launching freight operations would increase the longevity of the country’s highways and assist in lowering the number of Nigerians who die in car accidents.
Alkali expressed satisfaction with the work rate and highlighted notable improvement since his first visit. Additionally, he disclosed that the project would be broken up into smaller, more manageable pieces in order to finish it faster.
He noted, “This is the second leg of my inspection since I took over as the minister of Transportation and the essence of the inspection is to see by myself with a team from the Ministry of Transportation and Engineers from the Railway Corporation and the consultant and the contractors, so that we ensure compliance in term of time and in term of specifications.
“But the impression I have from the last visit I came to is that the progress is remarkable from what I have seen.
“We came all the way from Kano, we drove on the formation that they did, they are doing the earthwork and the culvert and this is a station where they have started preparing the rail lines and the slippers so that they will use their locomotive to convey the materials on the rail line.”
The minister also said that, “I have just discussed with the contractor, we are going to segment the project by the grace of God. We are going to put Kano-Daura next year and Daura to Maradi in 2026 and Dutse to Kano in 2026.”
