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The Federal Government has signed the contract papers for work to commence on the Kano-Maradi, Kano-Dutse railway project.
The Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, disclosed this on Monday, adding that the contractor, Mota-Engil Group, also pledged to build a university for the country as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility.
The minister in a tweet said, “Today, we signed the contract documents for the commencement of the Kano-Maradi, Kano-Dutse railway project.
“The contractor, Mota-Engil Group, a Multinational Engineering & Construction firm has also agreed to build a University as part of their CSR while working on the project.”
The report of the 248-km rail to link Kano, Katsina, Jigawa states to Maradi, Niger Republic had sparked stark criticisms among the public last year.
The President Muhammadu Buhari at a Federal Executive Council meeting had approved a $1,959,744,723.71 contract for the rail line.
Amaechi had also said the 248-kilometre line is expected to aid the transportation of crude oil which the government had announced that it would commence importation from the West African country.
But the Peoples Democratic Party and many Civil Society Organisation described the project as a misplacement of priority.
“The problem of this regime is that it has never got its priorities right and at the end of the day, Nigerians are the ones who suffer from these poor choices by these people.
“Let’s even look at it from the point of view of the economy. What is the economic benefit of this project to Nigeria? The Nigerian economy, as it is today, is not in a state to contain this kind of wasteful spending,” the PDP had said.
