The
Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has said that construction work
at the ongoing Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge had reached about 90 per cent
completion.
Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has said that construction work
at the ongoing Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge had reached about 90 per cent
completion.
Amaechi disclosed this while inspecting the project at
Ewekoro-Papalanto axis of the project on Monday.
He said: “We are progressing but there is no way they can
fast-track the project during the raining season, but 90 per cent of the
construction works has been done.
“I have told them to work day and night, to ensure the
project keeps moving as expected, especially on the bridges and construction of
modern station at Ebuta-Meta Lagos.
“I also told them that two weeks after the rain mush have
stopped, they have to complete the remaining 10 per cent to allow them focus on
laying of tracks.”
According to him, by the end of October they, should have
finished all the bridges from Iju to Abeokuta.
The minister said that laying of tracks would be an easy task
after all the earthworks must have been completed.
Amaechi called on the contractor-China Civil Engineering
Construction Company- to expedite action on the pace of work to ensure timely
delivery of the project.
The minister said that the major challenge facing the project
now was where to site the railway stations at various towns and communities
along the corridor.
He said: “Where to locate the railway stations has posed a
great challenge as many communities find it difficult to release their land for
such.
“We have such challenges in Abeokuta, Agege and other vital
areas, where we needed to site the stations.
“It won’t be ideal after finishing the construction work and
there is no rail station for people to board their train, but we are talking to
the communities.
“Let them know the benefit of the stations to their
communities.”
According to him, the challenges of pipelines and cables in
Lagos state have been resolved by casing the underground pipes for more
protections against the vibrations of the train.
He said that shifting the pipelines from the present
locations to other places would cost more and prolong the project more than the
slated delivery time.
Amaechi said that efforts had been put in place by the
contractor to safeguard the pipelines by fixing casing on it to ensure proper
protection from the rail vibrations.
The
minister assured the people that the project would be delivered in due course,
adding that proper work needed to be done to ensure authenticity of the rail
line.
minister assured the people that the project would be delivered in due course,
adding that proper work needed to be done to ensure authenticity of the rail
line.
NAN
