[size=13pt]FG needs $1bn for railway modernisation – Investigation[/size]
http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201009133383420


The quest to restore full railway services in Nigeria at the end of the year may not materialise unless the Federal Government is willing to release fresh funds for its modernisation, RASHEED BISIRIYU reports.

The Federal Government is required to inject over $1bn into the Nigerian Railway Corporation in the next one year to revive and modernise the moribund transport system, an investigation has revealed.

About $500m out of the money is needed to purchase 100 new locomotive engines, each of which costs about $5m; while another $500m is estimated for the first phase of railway modernisation - new Lagos-Kano rail line.

Although the government has set a target of end of the year for the railway system to bounce back, having released N114bn for 25 diesel-powered new locomotives from General Electric, a senior railway manager told our correspondent in Lagos on Sunday that it was inadequate. He added that the corporation currently had the capacity for 100 engines.

He said that while about 60 per cent of the engines would be dedicated to mass transit trains in Lagos, Kano, Enugu and three other places, the other 40 per cent would cater for the needs in the freight service.

A former Railway District Manager for Lagos, Mr. Oba Joseph, recalled that in the 1970s, when the rail system was effective, NRC never had less than 80 fit locomotives in the entire system.

He said, in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Sunday, that in Lagos alone, about 10 locos were required for both mass transit (passengers) and goods trains.

His breakdown showed that five engines would be dedicated to the mass transit and the other five for freight trains, including two for shunting of both passenger and goods trains.

The Federal Government had in January this year requested $500m loan from China EXIM Bank for the construction of the new Lagos-Kano rail line on standard gauge.

It stressed that the new phase one of the Lagos-Kano axis would kick-start the Nigeria railway modernisation project.

A former director of NRC, who pleaded anonymity, warned that unless the Federal Government pursued the railway rehabilitation along with the modernisation programme, the nation‘s quest to make Nigeria one of the top 20 economies in 2020 would be a mirage.

According to him, Nigeria must maintain a consistent annual investment in the railway system as being done in the civilised countries if it will not continue to lag behind.

”If you spend a certain amount on the railway this year, you need to spend the same or more than that next year and consistently to have an effective and reliable system,” he said.

Experts have argued that the comatose state of the rail system in the country is a major factor responsible for the deplorable state of inter-state roads as bulk goods, which ordinarily should be transported through the rail, are being taken through the roads.

The Federal Government had in the fourth quarter of 2009 awarded two contracts totalling N24.15bn for the rehabilitation of the 1,128km Lagos-Kano to two firms, CCECC and Costain West Africa Plc.

The two firms are merely working on the existing system. The Chinese firm, which got N12.13bn, is currently handling the Lagos-Jebba line while Costain, with N12.2bn, is fixing the Jebba-Kano end.

According to NRC, the track rehabilitation is to complement the 25 new locomotives, the last batch which is expected to be delivered by the end of the year.

Already, the corporation had resumed mass transit train operations in Lagos and Kano following the delivery of some of the new locos in the areas.

Another source at the NRC also said on Sunday that the corporation was expected to reopen about 100 railway stations, which were shut in the wake of inactivity.

He put the total number of stations across the railway system nationwide at 380.

The wage bill of the corporation may also increase by 500 per cent following a recent survey, which reportedly estimated the NRC‘s workforce in post rehabilitation at 32,000.

The President, Nigeria Union of Railway workers, Mr. Raphael Okoro, put the current monthly wage bill at N201m for about 6,300 workers.

The corporation must, therefore, prepare an annual budget of N2bn on the 32,000 workers, excluding training.

Okoro said, part of a recent agreement the workers‘ union reached with the NRC management and board was to train and retrain all the existing personnel along with new ones on line with the demand of the new railway system.

He also disclosed that a few workers already penciled down for retrenchment would be limited to those with bad record, old age and long service.

The Managing Director, NRC, Mr. Seyi Sijuade, had in an interview with our correspondent confirmed that the organisation commenced move to bring in new hands and train them along with those left in the system. He, however, did not give the amount required for the exercise.

He said, ”We have actually commenced a reform, which will last three months. It will involve consultants looking at the employees of staff that we have now along with our goals and the challenges and the needed skills. They will be coming up with measures that will address the gap.

”Part of the measures may involve bringing back some of the past NRC workers who have the required knowledge and core capability to work for us following a proper selection process. It will also involve bringing new people with potential for railways. They will be given intensive training. We‘ll also be looking at the people that we have on the ground with the domain knowledge of railway system, having them retrained.”

He also said, ”We intend to re-launch mass transit train services in six cities by the end of this year when rehabilitation is completed, we will resume full freight train operation between Lagos and Kano; Port Harcourt and Maiduguri; or Port Harcourt and Kano, before we pass on the entire operations to the private sector.”

Sijuade, who lamented the long neglect of the corporation, said, ”Quite a lot was required to be done in terms of building operational capabilities, fixing the infrastructure, rehabilitating the rolling stock and ultimately, lifting up the entire corporation through workers‘ motivation, training and retraining.”

Fgn should keep the ball roolling because with the skelleter services, they give us unbealivable relief. Those of us that living in ifo, ijoko, robiiyan, agbado, iju,agege,ikeja route. Keep it up we are praying 4 u.

We were told we were seeking to MODERNIZE, but we BORROWED almost a billion dollars from China to buy OLD MACHINES, and now we need $1Billion to Modernize again?

I don't think any money was borrowed. Yaradua cancelled the wholesale modernisation contract signed by Obj
and opted instead for palliative rehabilitation of the old kano to lag line.

I suspect its campaign rhetoric, but VP Sambo mentioned something about the construction of an East West line
from lag to calabar.

I just hope they somehow get their act together cause the upside to the country is just huge. Would help with
security and alleviate some of the suffering we go through on our roads. HUGE!!!!!!!!1

doyin13:

I don't think any money was borrowed. Yaradua cancelled the wholesale modernisation contract signed by Obj
and opted instead for palliative rehabilitation of the old kano to lag line.

Yar adua did not cancel the modernization contract . . . I believe the contract came with a one billion penalty for that and so we could not cancel. The administration DID BORROW about $500 or more which were supposedly used to develop the Abuja Kaduna lines. It does seem more was borrowed but instead used in purchase of old locos.

doyin13:

I suspect its campaign rhetoric, but VP Sambo mentioned something about the construction of an East West line
from lag to calabar.

The same VP Sambo that plastered his picture all over the kaduna locos while he was state governor as if he had a hand in that developmen, right? lol

doyin13:

I just hope they somehow get their act together cause the upside to the country is just huge. Would help with
security and alleviate some of the suffering we go through on our roads. HUGE!!!!!!!!1

We should have stuck with the initial deal, which was meant to wire up the WHOLE COUNTRY with MODERN rail and machines. Instead we have wasted about a billion or more already on this and we are still nowhere close to even getting started.

Haaa. . .then I probably read wrong then. The report I read was a quarter of a billion dollar forfeit of money already spent, and reluctance of the Chinese backers to continue with fund provision.

I wouldn't call them old locos. They do work and are adequate to at least get things started.

The fact there are old locos is not the problem. The problem is they did not purchase nearly enough.

As the report suggested, at least hundred would provide the service required, and if managed properly
should provide decent returns on investment.

doyin13:

Haaa. . .then I probably read wrong then. The report I read was a quarter of a billion dollar forfeit of money already spent, and reluctance of the Chinese backers to continue with fund provision.
I wouldn't call them old locos. They do work and are adequate to at least get things started.
The fact there are old locos is not the problem. The problem is they did not purchase nearly enough.

I disagree. Old Loco applies in this case refers because the machines were specifically purchased to fit old infrastructure which we were in the first place supposed to work on MODERNIZING. So purchasing 100 of those will not MODERNIZE what we have in anyway. Spending more money in any way on the old is not MODERNIZATION.