The date scheduled for commencement of fuel haulage by railway has been postponed till June this year. The Nigeria Railway Corporation has cited non-completion of the Lagos-Kano railway construction work as reason for the two-month shift from the initial planned date of April.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY gathered that the commencement of the service was hinged on the completion of the construction of the Lagos-Kano track, which is currently at 97 per cent completion level.
Investigations carried out by our correspondents reveal that the project which was divided into two phases–Lagos to Jebba end and Jebba to Kano end – was almost complete from the Lagos end while the other end starting from Jebba to Kano is still under construction.
The NRC spokesman, Mr. David Ndakotsu, told our correspondent that the railway corporation was only currently operating short distances such as the Lagos-Jebba and Lagos-Ilorin tracks through which cement products from Lafarge were being conveyed.
“The Lagos-Kano Railway is now billed to become operational in June. As we have also heard from the transport minister (Sen. Idris Umar), the track is now 97 per cent completed, but a lot is needed to be done before a railway becomes operational.
“However, all services from Lagos to Kano and to the North in general, including fuel haulage and passenger services, will commence once the Lagos-Kano track is completed. For now, we are doing short distances like Lagos to Jebba, Lagos to Ilorin, Lagos to Ibadan and within the Lagos metropolis,” he said.
Available statistics from the agency shows that 3,493,443 passengers and 295,616 tonnes of goods were lifted by railway in 2011, compared with 1,285, 080 passengers and 52,489 tonnes in 2009, indicating some improvement in the hitherto moribund government parastatal. About 965,147 passengers and 52,293 tonnes have already been lifted in the first quarter of 2012. In the mid 80’s, a total of 13 million passengers were being moved by railway annually on the average
NRC’s managing director Engr. Adeseyi Sijuwade told LEADERSHIP, in an exclusive interview in March, that the corporation was awaiting approval of its budget proposal for planned acquisition of 50 more tank wagons in addition to the first 20 imported in February this year for purposes of hauling petroleum products by rail.
Even though he declined to give figures about funds needed for acquisition of the pressurised tank wagons, the initial 20 were said to have been acquired at N600 million, an indication that 50 more tanks may cost up to N1.5 billion.
“The good news is that the long-awaited Lagos to Kano service is now imminent, as the missing link in the track, which is that part of the track in Akerri is now being completed.
“As we speak now, the deck of that Bridge 47, which has been the missing link, is being constructed. We expect that by the end of this month it would have been fully completed so that by April we start our trial runs from Lagos to Kano,” he told our correspondent last March.
He also named the Nigeria Flour Mills, the Dangote Group and Wapco Lafarge as companies that were desirous and eagerly awaiting commencement of the Lagos-Kano freight services, but stressed that private partnership was indispensable for better and faster development of the subsector, urging the National Assembly to quickly pass the new railway bill, which is currently before it.
In the same vein, it was gathered that work has begun in earnest along the Kano end, even though the delicate nature of work at Akere Bridge in Niger State has led to the extension of time for the completion of the project.
According to a source in Kano, while the work was progressing steadily, the difficult terrain at the Akere Bridge has been retarding the progress of work so far, thereby making it impossible to meet with the deadline of April 2012 as planned.
A source at the Kano station said that the work would expectedly be completed in either May or June and the federal government would open the route for normal transportation of goods and services.
But besides the plan to commence the long distance services of the train, it was gathered that, the normal short-distance locomotive operation has been going on since the rehabilitation work of the track that was carried out recently was completed by the federal government.
Already, people in Kano, Zaria, Kafanchan and Kaduna and villages along the route have been taking the advantage of the locomotive services to enjoy the safest and cheapest transportation service to Kaduna and Kafanchan from Kano main station.
Our correspondent gathered that all tracks from Kaduna and Kafanchan have been fully rehabilitated and the usual operation of the locomotives have commenced in earnest.
Meanwhile, activities have begun to pick up at the Kano station in spite of the absence of long service route. Our correspondent who was at the Kano station noted that people from nearby villages that come to Kano for business and other social services are preparing to travel by locomotives.
SOURCE:
6 May 2012.
6 May 2012.
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