Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said that about $45billion will be needed to solve the nation’s “problem of transportation to a great extent.”
He maintained that the rail infrastructure was a capital intensive sector and Amaechi in an interview on Channels Television breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, on Tuesday.
He said further that the sector was capital intensive and huge funds would be needed to construct more railroads and acquire coaches.
Said he, “It is capital intensive. N1trillion is about $2.7 billion and that is just about 200kilometres of the railway.
“So, if you plan to do Lagos-Ibadan and you are looking at about $8.7 billion – this will be between N3 trillion and N4 trillion. How much is the budget of the country?
“That is why I said we need about $35 to $45 billion to be able to do Lagos-Kano, Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, Lagos-Calabar, and Abuja-Warri.
“Once you do these four tracks, you have covered the country, and you have solved the problem of transportation to a great extent,” he said.
The minister also gave a breakdown of the expenses inquired so far rail construction most especially the Lagos-Ibadan railroad.
According to him, the Federal Government is making efforts to acquire coaches and locomotives for the Lagos-Ibadan railroad.
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“Lagos-Ibadan Railroad will cost about $1.6billion. This does not include the extra cost of things we did not prepare for. The Kaduna-Abuja construction will cost about $1billion.
“We have paid about $500 milllion to buy locomotives for Lagos-Ibadan. So that’s what we’ve so far spent.”
Amaechi, who is also the former governor of Rivers State, said he was not at war with the Governor Nyesom Wike of the state.
He said he was only inconvenient with the level of insecurity in the state.
Amaechi continued, “There is no war going on between Wike and I. It is like my friend Akpabio, when we met the other day, I said it; we are not quarreling.
“What is going on between Wike and me is the fact that he wants to run a second term.
“The fact is that he ran the first term in which people were killed. Today, he is accusing the army and not the police because they refused the take bribe from him.”
The former governor boasted that during his administration as governor in the state, he investigated and ensured the arrest of the perpetrators.
