Posted on: 07:23 Thu, 24 Dec 2015



The minister of transportation,
Rotimi Amaechi, has revealed the
federal government has plans to
embark on massive railway
infrastructure development across
the country, saying that works on
railway lines when they start in 2016
could absorb as much as 250,000
people.

He said: “The railways has suffered
significant neglect even though it is
the cheapest mode of transportation.

The current state of railway is an
indication of severe neglect and it is
a chaotic situation, with government
spending without any return on
investment.

“Government will focus on railway
to encourage mass transit of and
cargo freights by railway.

The current government is planning
massive investment into the
standard gauge whose constructions
will begin 2016, with the Calabar-
Lagos coastal railway.”

The minister also said from its
current 1.41 per cent contribution to
the nation’s gross domestic product
(GDP), the ministry of transportation
under his leadership would work to
raise transport sector’s contribution
to GDP, stressing that the current
contribution was unacceptable.

Minister Amaechi on Wednesday
ended his tour of transport facilities
and agencies in Lagos which he
began last week, touring airport
facilities at the Murtala Mohammed
International Airport and its
environs before he briefed
journalists about his findings and the
administration’s plan for the sector.

The minister who noted that Nigeria
suffers the bane of inadequate
transport infrastructure, said the
federal government would use
opportunities that abound in the
sector to build the economy as such
countries as South Korea and
Singapore.