The senate, yesterday, has announced the China Development Bank as the new financier for the project paving way for its completion over the coming months.
The former financier, the China Exim Bank, had earlier backed off the project in 2020 citing Covid-19 pandemic among other issues as reasons bringing about delays in its completion.
The railway, a standard-gauge line stretching 203 kilometres, will link Kano to the nation’s capital, Abuja.
Reminder that President Bola Tinubu had earlier assured that the Ibadan-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano railway project would be completed to satisfaction as he continues to build on the success of his immediate past predecessor @MBuhari in railway revolution.
#BelieveInPBAT
https://x.com/DOlusegun/status/1900873597138464984?t=vYLDxfTNA2ZqgOXzr-rJwQ&s=19
(Quote) (Report) 4 Likes (Like) 1 Share (Share)
Mandela’s First Visit To Nigeria After Being Released From Prison In 1990 (Video And Pictures). click here https://www.nairaland.com/2030794/mandelas-first-visit-nigeria-after
Re: Senate Announces China Development Bank As New Financier Of Kano-Kaduna Rail by naptu2: 4:44am
naptu2:
I’ll explain this again.
1) Western Line: The Western Line was the first line that was built by the Colonial Government. The primary reason for building it was to transport raw materials and agricultural goods like Al-Hassan Dantata’s groundnuts from Kano to the port in Lagos.
The line begins at the Lagos Terminus in Iddo (there’s also a branch line to the Apapa Port) and goes through Abeokuta, Ibadan, Ilorin, Kaduna and terminates in Kano. It is a narrow gauge line.
The Western line began with the Lagos-Ibadan line which was built between 1891 and 1896, it reached Kano in 1912 and it was later extended to Nguru in 1930.
2) Eastern Line: The Eastern Line was primarily built to move coal from Enugu to the port at Port Harcourt. Port Harcourt was also built for the same reason (to serve as a port for the shipment of coal). Coal was shipped to Great Britain and to the power plant at Ijora in Lagos.
The Eastern Line was extended to Jos, to move tin from the tin mines there and it was also connected to the Western Line in Kaduna. The Government of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa extended the Eastern Line to Maiduguri. It is a narrow gauge line.
The Eastern Line began with the Port-Harcourt to Enugu Line that was built between 1913 and 1916. It was extended to Kaduna in 1927 and it was later extended to Maiduguri between 1958 and 1964.
3) Central Line: The Central Line was constructed by the government of General Ibrahim Babangida (construction began in 1987). It was built to convey iron from the iron mines at Itakpe to the steel mill at Ajaokuta and to convey the steel from Ajaokuta to Warri Port. It is a standard gauge line. The line was not completed.
There have been plans to build new standard gauge lines on the western and eastern axis, along the same corridor as the old narrow gauge lines.
The government of President Goodluck Jonathan began the Kaduna-Abuja rail line on the Western Axis. The government of President Muhammadu Buhari completed it and also built the Lagos-Ibadan line on the Western axis. The Government is currently building the Kano-Kaduna leg of the Western Line. When that is completed, all that will be left is the Ibadan-Ilorin and Ilorin-Abuja segments of the line.
The Government of Muhammadu Buhari also completed the Warri-Itakpe Line (the Central Line). There are plans to extend it to Abuja.
The Muhammadu Buhari Administration had declared that it would focus on completing existing projects, rather than starting new ones and so it focused on completing the Western and Central Lines. There is also a plan to build a standard gauge Eastern Line (Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri) but that has not commenced yet (which has caused annoyance among people of the North-East and South-East).
There is a proposal to build a coastal line, from Lagos to Calabar, but it hasn’t been built yet. Critics complain that the colonialists were only interested in exploiting resources from Nigeria, rather than giving Nigerians good infrastructure and that’s why they built rail lines from the hinterland in the north, to the ports in the south. For example, the critics point out that if you want to go from Lagos to Enugu by rail, you’d first have to go all the way up to Kaduna, before you can get to Enugu.
When I heard this criticism back in the 1980s, I often asked, “So why haven’t we built it? The colonialists have been gone since 1960, so why haven’t we built a rail line from east to west? We can’t keep blaming them”.
