Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, says the Federal Government needs about $40bn to complete some ongoing rail projects and embark on new ones. According to Amaechi, negotiations had commenced for the funding of some specific rail projects across the country despite money not being available at the moment.
He stated this during the launching of additional locomotives and coaches at the Rigasa Train Station in Kaduna on Thursday. Amaechi stated, "We will do everything possible to ensure that we complete the Lagos-Ibadan railway. We are already negotiating with contractors who will fund the project. If we are able to complete the arrangements, again taking into consideration the Nigerian law, we will start many of them (rail projects) this year.
"We need between $36bn and $40bn. Only God knows where we are going to get it. But I like to apply what I did as Rivers State governor. Whenever there is a project, we put on the table how much we have, we will just award the contract believing that God will do it for us.“You will say that it is naive but at the end of the day, we got the money to pay the constructors.”
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