From left:
Transportation Minister, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi; Speaker House of Representative,
Hon. Yakubu Dogara; President Muhammadu Buhari; President of the Senate,
Senator Bukola Saraki; Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir ElRufa; the Chief Justice
of Nigeria, Justice Muhammad Mahmud and the Minister of State for Aviation,
Senator Hadi Sirika during the official flag off ceremony of Abuja-Kaduna
Commercial Train Operation at the Idu Train Station, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi
Adeshida 26/07/2016
Following the
official flag-off ceremony for commercial operations of the 185km Abuja-Kaduna
standard gauge rail project, on Tuesday, in Abuja, the opposition Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari, saying “We are
excited that President Muhammadu Buhari has commissioned our project.”
The PDP which took
to its verified Twitter handle @PdpNigeria to hail President Buhari said: “We
congratulate @NGRPresident of the commissioning of the Abuja-Kaduna standard
gauge rail line and flagging off of commercial operations on it. “We
congratulate the people of Nigeria who can enjoy the benefits of this
revolutionary service.
“We must commend former President Goodluck Jonathan for
the conceptualisation of the project as a standard gauge rail line. We
sincerely hope the project fulfils the dreams he had of greater integration
between the cities of Abuja & Kaduna.
“We also commend former Minister of
Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for
the work put into the structure of the project. It is important to note that the
structure of this project ensured that it didn’t suffer the fate of many
projects before it which are abandoned by successive administrations. “The 185
km Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge rail line is one of the first standard gauge
rail lines in Nigeria and was constructed by China Civil Engineering &
Construction Company (CCECC).
“The project features cargo and passenger trains.
4000 people were employed during construction & at inception, the project
was projected to employ 5000 people for its operations. “Passenger trains on
the line can operate for speeds of up to 200kms per hour while cargo trains can
travel at speeds up to 150kms per hour. “Travel time between the two cities
will be 1hr & 1hr30mins for passenger and cargo trains respectively.
“The
rail line has nine stations and costs $874million. Of this figure, $500million
was provided by the China Exim Bank as a concessionary loan while the Jonathan
administration paid $374million as counterpart funding.
“The rail line included
the construction of 30 railway bridges, including five box bridges.
Construction on the rail line commenced in February 2011 and ended in December
2014. The nine stations were in advanced stages of completion when the Jonathan
admininistration handed over.
“This project is the first in a series of
developmental projects conceptualised and initiated by the Jonathan
administration.” “Others that will soon be completed include the new terminals
at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and Akanu Ibiam International
Airport, Enugu. God bless Nigeria,” the party said in a series of tweets on
Tuesday.
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