By Gift Olivia Samuel, The Sight News
CHINA: The Federal government has disclosed that Nigeria will take delivery of the first batch of 10 coaches, out of the 64 coaches expected from China in June 2019.
The new coaches are expected to reduce the passenger congestion at the Abuja-Kaduna rail line.
The Minister of Transportation, Hon. Chibuike Ameachi made this known over the weekend, when he led a delegation to China to inspect the pace of work at the Chinese Railway Rolling stock Corporation(CRRC) Tangshan Co., Ltd.
The Minister requested that 10 coaches be delivered to Nigeria latest June to relieve the burden on the Abuja-Kaduna line as well as the Lagos-Ibadan line which will soon be ready.
According to him, “We need coaches by June latest. We need coaches that can carry men from one point to another and we need a minimum of 10 coaches now out of the 64.
“I requested for 10 coaches now because we need to improve on kaduna-Abuja line. If the 10 doesn’t come there is nothing I can do but it has to come because they have to manufacture for us to use in Kaduna-Abuja and again, Lagos- Ibadan will soon be ready, we also have to ensure that we get coaches that we can be using, pending when they finish construction of the 64 coaches”.
Amaechi, however noted that the pace of work is slow and urged the manufacturers to improve on it, adding that the contract span has expired.
“The pace of construction is slow and they need to improve on it. In fact the contract has expired, we may not have paid all the money but we paid quite a substantial sum and therefore they should construct speedily.
“The contract was signed in December 2017 and was supposed to expire in February 2019. The time has expired and there is a breach of contract but we will look at what the law says because more than one-third of the money has been paid”, he disclosed.
He pointed out that the issue is not with CRRC but a contract between Nigeria and CCECC, adding that it will be addressed in Nigeria.
For his part, the General Manager, CRRC Tangshan Co., Ltd, Mr. Zhou Junnian expressed excitement over the visit of the Nigerian delegation to the CRRC and for their trust.
Mr. Junnian explained that the passenger coach components are 100 percent from China, adding that materials for works depends on the speed of the product and the customer requirements.
He further stated that in the future, CRRC will work with the CCECC to meet the high standard and quality needed to finish the projects.
In the same vein, the Minister also visited the CRRC Shandong, to inspect the cargo wagons being built for Nigeria, where he disclosed that there was a verbal agreement with the CCECC to localise the railway industry in Nigeria which was supposed to produce 15% of the coaches, locomotives and wagons.
He said, “We had a verbal agreement for them to produce 15 % of the coaches, locomotives and wagons, they came back and said it was too expensive to establish locomotives and coaches factory, that we can start with wagon and do 100 % assembly in Nigeria for the first five (5) years, after the first five years, they will now build a factory that will manufacture wagons in Nigeria.
“It is not part of the contract we signed in 2017 but I insisted that for me to sign, they must localise it to create more jobs, reduce the expenditure of foreign exchange. Instead of going to buy dollars, you pay the Chinese in their local currency.
“We have to go further to ask them if we can own it, we have not talked about ownership but what we said is, localise it. Even though they are using their profit to build it, you can make them hand over the ownership to Nigeria. As for the assembly plant, I intended for Zaria but they chose Kajola in Ogun state”, he ended.
Amaechi, further directed the Managing Director, Railway to hand over land for the wagon factory to CCECC before May 8, 2019.
Earlier, the Chairman CRRC Shandong, Mr. Wang Zichong while speaking on the progress of the Nigerian wagon design and manufacture, noted that the design has been completed, adding that they have been purchasing the materials and prototype manufacture will be carried out as early as they can.
Zichong, stated also, that the specification for Nigeria’s localisation workshop has been completed. “We are preparing the fixture and equipment manufacture”, he added.
On when the assembly plant workshop can be completed, he stated that it can be done in six months if given the land.
The delegation made up of the Minister of Transportation, Hon. Chibuike Ameachi, the Minister of Finance, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport, Olugbenga Ashafa, Managing Director, Nigeria Railway Corporation and others, visited the CRRC Tangshan Steel structure workshop, General Assembly Workshop 1, Commissioning workshop
