By Uzair Adam Imam
The Federal Government of Nigeria has commended the level of ongoing construction of the Kano-Maradi, Niger Republic, standard gauge rail project.
The Minister of Transport, Sen. Ahmed Alkali, expressed this satisfaction shortly after inspecting the project on Friday.
Alkali spoke to newsmen at Dadin Kowa in Kazaure Local Government Area of Jigawa, adding that he was satisfied with the level of work done so far.
He said, “We are fully committed in ensuring timely completion of the ongoing Kano – Jigawa – Maradi rail line project, aimed at boosting the economy of the Nigeria and Niger republic.
“We are working hard to fix this country; so in terms of reviewing the financial aspect we must make sacrifice, including the contractor,” he said.
He also noted that with the speed at which the project is going, hopefully the contactors will meet the target of timely completion by 2025.
“The $2 billion project awarded by former President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to be completed at the set agreed project target year of 2025.
“The earth work of the project has reached 80 per cent stage, while real rail line work would soon commence after the earth works.
“I am very impressed with what we have seen; we came all the way from Dawanau where the project started so that we have first hand information of the level of the execution of the project and the contractors are in compliance with the level of specifications of the job,” he stated.
