The federal government, has expressed its readiness to commence the construction of the Ebute-Meta-Apapa rail project by December.
The move, government hinted was to curtail the lingering gridlock crisis along the corridor, thereby decongesting the seaport.
The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, gave the hint while inspecting the level of work done so far at the Lagos-Ibadan section of the project.
Amaechi, while disclosing the essence of the project rush despite APC winning the Presidential election, noted that it was to ensure that government have an ample time to face the issue of seaport decongestion.
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“The problem is that there are too much congestions at the seaport, and gridlock in Lagos. The moment we finish this rail likely before December this year, we have to face Ebute Meta to Apapa, and the moment we finish it, nearly almost all the cargoes will be on the track.
“And once we put all the cargoes on the track, we would have resolved the problems of the gridlocks in Lagos and the issue of congestion at the seaport.
“That will equally create employment and economic growth and that is what the target of this government is. It is not about the APC or the PDP,” he said.
The former governor of Rivers state, equally reacted to the feasibility of President Muhammadu Buhari taking a train ride before his swearing in on May 29, noting: “The target is 50 50. We can achieve it if we want to, but what is the benefit of insisting on the train ride before May swearing in when the contractor has given us first or second week in June.”
