Rail project for ports strategic to national growth plan

THE Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Adeseyi Sijuwade has reaffirmed that the ongoing development of the railway system at the nation's gateways was very strategic for national growth, especially in the movement of goods, services and passengers in the maritime sector.Sijuwade stated this at the African Centre for Supply Chain's fellowship investiture and induction ceremony in Lagos recently that the ongoing construction of the railway lines at the ports remained a key tool to the variability of the railway network in the country.According to him, the reform at the gateways cannot be completed without a standard railway network being installed as a modal transportation of goods and service in the maritime sector.'The rail system in the ports is very essential to the variability of the railway network. We have actually extended the lines there at the ports. We have rehabilitated the line that goes from Apapa port right inside the port. But it is not going to be the only line that would be rehabilitated. The next phase in the railway project at the port is to actually rehabilitate the sides and shorelines that go into the terminals of the port concessionaires within the ports.'In addition to that, the railway network within Port Harcourt's port has also commenced. There is no way you can leave out the link of railway system to the ports in this rehabilitation programme.'He said the past three years have been significant for his led NRC's management team, because the focus had been to boost infrastructure in the sector, adding that most of the tracks or lines in the railway projects have been completed.'Our journey began just three years ago, when the Federal Government, for the first time in decades, channeled funds towards the revitalisation of the railway sector in the country. And over the past two or three years, we have focused on the rehabilitation of railway's infrastructure, which was our main focus then.'But today, I am glad to say that by the ending of this month, we should be in the position to actually commence trade services from Lagos all the way to Kano. So we intend to commence commercial operations. It is something we are very much looking forward to as a safe and efficient avoidable movement of passengers from Lagos to Kano,' he added.
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