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Abuja light rail on stream
News & Trends •
the abuja rail is divided into six 6 lots and with total length of 290km. the lots are1 president muhammdu buhari on thursday commissioned the first abuja light rail system in demonstration of the commitment to address dearth of critical infrastructure1 he said that transportation was the livewire of any city and expressed optimism that a modern rail service would boost the economy and greatly enhance social life1 i am aware that what we have on ground today are coaches meant to provide skeletal services as we await the main set of the rolling stock for full operations1 he said he had been briefed on the signing of the memoranda of understanding mous and agreements for the procurements of the main rolling stock1 he assured nigerians of federal governments continued support for all the negotiations towards the realization of the abuja light rail system1 today what we have in the federal capital territory is another evidence that we are a government that delivers on its promises1 i have observed keenly other milestones that this administration has achieved especially in the areas of education public utilities and infrastructure development1 presidenet buhari commended the efforts federal capital terrirtory fct as well as the support and patience of the residents to made the project a reality1 i am thankful to the government and people of china for their investment in the nigerian economy. i commend the ccecc limited the contracting firm for the quality of work and timely delivery of this project1 let me place on record the nigerian governments appreciation to the government of china and the exim bank of china for their support on this and many other projects currently being executed in the country1 this gesture further cements the already existing cordial relations and developmental partnership between nigeria and the peoples republic of china1 earlier the minister of fct malam musa bello revealed that the abuja rail mass transit system was an integral part of the fct transportation master plan1 he said the plan was designed primarily to transport large numbers of people and goods from satellite towns into the metropolitan public transport system and the different phases of the federal capital city1 he said the abuja rail system was packaged in six lots planned for phased development based on preferential demand and available financial resources1 he added that the abuja rail mass transit system was planned to integrate with the national rail network when eventually completed1 buhari said at the commissioning that the projects was the ideals of the change agenda of the government to ensure prudence in the management of public resources value for money considering the huge investments in this project1 lot 1 from nnamdi azikwe expressway through the transportation centre metro station via gwagwa to kubwa1 lot 2 from gwagwa via transportation centre metro station to nyanyakaru1 lot 3 from transportation centre via idu industrial zone to nanmadi azikwe international airport1 lot 4from kuje satellite town to karshi satellite town with the remaining legs of the transit way line 21 lot 5from kubwa via bwari to suleja and lot 6from airport via kuje and gwagwalada to dobi he explained1 the minister said the implementation of the project had been divided into phases with phase 1 inaugurated by the president1 he said fcta had concluded an infrastructure soft loan agreement with exim bank of china for the supply of the remaining coaches including their maintenance for three years at a cost of 194 million dollars1 he said the bank would fund the project up to 157 million dollars or 85 per cent of the total cost while fcta would bring in a counterpart fund of 37million dollars 15 per cent1 bello said fcta had since commenced work on phase ii of the abuja rail mass transit project1 he said the phase 11 would cover a distance of 32.54km from nnamdi azikwe expressway at garki area i via the transportation centre to gwagwa and from bazango station to kubwa1 he said the federal executive council fec in 2017 approved the project for construction by ccecc at a cost of 1.3 billion dollars1 we hope that the minister of finance would consider putting this key project in the next borrowing plans the minister of budget and national planning would agree to it the national assembly would approved it and that china exim bank would fund it as a mark of goodwill for the cordial relationship between our two countries he said1 the president was taken on a guided tour of the abuja rail mass transit and abuja new international terminal at nnamdi azikiwe international airport abuja1 the minister of state aviation mr hadi sirika and bello led the tour at idu rail station and abuja airport1 the abuja rail mass transit is the first mass transit project in nigeria as well as in west africa.nan1