The federal government has said that the promise to complete the narrow guage Eastern railway corridor from Maiduguri to Port Harcourt before the end of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is no longer feasible.
The Minister of Transportation Mu’azu Jaji Sambo spoke while fielding questions from State House reporters after the Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said financing the project has become a challenge as the federal government has not been able to obtain the foreign counterpart funding embedded in the project making it impossible to fund it as envisaged as the project was being funded currently through the 15 per cent counterpart funding from the budget.
Rotimi Amaechi, former Minister of Transport, had said that the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri line would be delivered before the end of the tenure of the present administration
President Buhari had two years ago performed the groundbreaking of the 1.96 billion dollars railine project meant to further stimulate economic activities in 14 states it covers. Daily Trust
Procyon News
