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Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on Thursday said that about N4 trillion is required to complete the Lagos to Kano standard gauge rail project.
Amaechi, while addressing journalists in Kaduna state, explained that the project has been moving at a slow pace because of the huge amount of money required to finance its speedy completion.
Channels TV quoted him as saying: “Doing Lagos-Kano, we are looking for about N3trillion and N4trillion. Is that a money you get easily? The budget is between N7trillion to N8trillion, if we give only Lagos-Kano the sum of N4trillion then we will be giving half of the budget and we won’t be able to pay salaries.
“So it is a gradual process, that’s why we want to rehabilitate the narrow gauge so that while we are slowly constructing the standard gauge, things will be running on the narrow gauge”
The minister also disclosed that the Federal Government is rehabilitating the narrow gauge rail lines to enable the trains shuttle between the south to the northern part of the country pending the completion of the standard gauge.