Ado Ekiti, capital of Ekiti state, will be connected to Lagos-Kano rail line, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi said today as he signed a $6.68 billion dollars contract agreement for the Ibadan-Kaduna segment with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).

Amaechi said at the signing ceremony in Abuja that Ado-Ekiti will be connected with a single track branch line from Osogbo.

He signed the contract on behalf of the Federal Government.

“This agreement is for the Ibadan-Kaduna rail line, which is part of the Lagos-Kano rail line, the completion time of the contract should be between two to three years, depending on availability of funds,” Amaechi said.

Amaechi promised that the ministry would be able to provide its counterpart funding between 2018 and 2019 budget provision, stating that the contract was a fulfilment of Federal Government’s plan to complete the Lagos-Kano rail modernisation project.

“The Ibadan-Kaduna standard gauge line will pass through Oshogbo-Ilorin-Minna to Kaduna, with a single track branch line from Oshogbo to Ado-Ekiti.

“This contract is in fulfilment of Federal Government’s plan to complete the Lagos-Kano rail modernisation project started in 2006 and broken into segments for implementation.

“The segmentation phase commenced from Abuja-Kaduna rail line in 2011, which was completed and commissioned into commercial operation by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016.

“The Federal Government in March 2017 commenced the second leg of the Lagos-Kano line that is currently ongoing and planned to be completed by the end of 2018.

“The signing of the Ibadan–Kaduna segment contract agreement today concludes all outstanding segments of the Lagos-Kano rail line.” (NAN)

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