By Williams Anuku, Abuja
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved the award of contracts for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri eastern narrow-gauge railway, with new branch lines and trans-shipment facilities.
The FEC also approved the construction of a new deep seaport in Bonny, under Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, and the construction of a railway industrial park in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The railway line will be at the cost of $3,020,279,549, Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation, stated while briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting.
He explained that the industrial park, which is under PPP, at no cost to the Federal Government, will cost $241,154,389.31. While the Bonny deep seaport will cost $461,924,369, at no cost to the federal government also.
“The Port Harcourt to Maiduguri narrow gauge railway will have new branch lines: from Port Harcourt to Bonny and from Port Harcourt to Owerri are new lines,” Amaechi said.
“There’s another connecting to narrow gauge to standard gauge at Kafanchan. There is a branch line from Gombe or before Maiduguri to Damaturu and Gashau. That’s what has been approved.”