Chidi Ogbuokiri
President Muhammadu Buhari will be performing the groundbreaking ceremony for the commencement of rehabilitation work on the eastern rail corridor today, March 9, 2021.
The cost of the project is put at $3.02 billion.
Minister of Transportation, Mr Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who confirmed this recently, also said the President had also approved the redirecting of the eastern rail line to two new spurs: Abakaliki in Ebonyi State and Awka in Anambra State.
The eastern corridor is a narrow-gauge rail track stretches from Port Harcourt through the South East, Middle Belt, North East and terminates in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
Amaechi also said the Federal Government was still negotiating loans for the Lagos to Calabar double gauge rail project.
Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Fidet Okhiria, an engineer, said the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri reconstruction project had earlier been awarded.
Okhiria said, “What we want to do now is to reconstruct Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, a contract of $3.02 billion has already been signed and work will commence soon.”
