Nigeria wednesday handed over the letter of award appointing General Electric (GE) as the concessionaire for two narrow gauge rail lines in the country, after the company’s emergence as the preferred bidder for concessions.
Also, the concession will see the U.S.
multinational invest in excess of $2.2 billion in the two major narrow
gauge rail lines that traverse several sections of the country.
The letter of award was handed over to
the President/CEO of GE Transportation, Jamie Miller by the permanent
secretary in the ministry, Alhaji Sabiu Zakari, who represented the
Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.
“Today we are
pleased to accept the letter of award as the preferred bidder for the
narrow gauge rails in Nigeria, she said.
“GE, with its partners, is committed to
working on this project. GE and its partners will work with the federal
government to work through a concession process to bring Nigeria’s
railway operations to life.”
Jamie Miller explained that with the concession
arrangement, GE would bring both project management and deep knowledge
of the industry and knowhow on how to work projects such as this in a
successful way. “We will partner with both the government and the
ministry to do so,” she said.
According to her, “One trunk of the line from
Lagos to Kano will pass through several states like Ogun, Oyo, Kwara,
Niger, Kaduna and Kano. Another trunk starts from Port Harcourt in River
State through Abia, Enugu, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe and
Maiduduri in Borno.
“In the first instance, perhaps before
2017 ends, GE will introduce 20 locomotives and about 200 coaches to
move freight and passengers even as more investments follow.”
Zakari pointed out that the Federal
Executive Council (FEC) recently approved the outline business case for
the concession of the narrow gauge rail lines.
“The president, transport section of GE which is the preferred bidder for the concession came and collected the letter of award.
“Based on that, we had a few discussions
on the interim solutions to be taken before the take off of the final
concession agreement.”
He hinted that the ministry would enter
into an interim arrangement with GE that will see it provide Nigeria
with locomotives and wagons as well as handle the renovation of the
narrow gauge lines, which will facilitate usage.
Zakari said: “GE will bring many
coaches that will help in freight and passenger movement and this will
ginger the economy. Our total agreement is for about 100 wagons in the
interim and 20 locomotives.
THIS DAY
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