The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said inadequate funding may delay the completion of the Kano-Kaduna rail project.
The minister revealed that the federal government is currently sourcing funds for the project from various financial institutions for the execution of the project.
Amaechi said the government had approached Standard Chartered bank for the funding as it was yet to conclude the loan agreement with the Chinese.
The minister also hinted that the federal government has so far injected over $400million for the project.
The project which is pegged at $1.2billion is slated to be completed in 18 months.Speaking about the funding challenge, the minister who was in Kano on Friday for an inspection of the project said he had never denied that there were financial challenges. “That is because of the economic downturn. The Chinese are not funding the way they used to fund us, up till now; we are yet to conclude the loan on this project.
On the economic viability of the route, he said: “We are constructing this so that it will be able to move passengers and cargoes but essentially cargoes.”
Speaking on equipment and manpower, he said: “That has to do with funding too. What we agreed is that they must bring in 2000 equipment to avoid what we suffered in Ibadan to Lagos. In Lagos, the equipment was either breaking down or was not enough and we had to place orders for new ones because they were not an off-the-shelf thing.
“So, for this one, we have asked that they buy all the equipment they need so that as they break down, they replace and in one year plus that we gave them, they should be able to complete the job.”
