The federal government on Wednesday said that the promise to complete the narrow gauge Eastern railway corridor before the end of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is no longer feasible.
The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, stated this while fielding questions at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Recall that President Buhari had two years ago performed the groundbreaking of the $1.96 billion rail-line project, saying that it would stimulate economic activities in the 14 states it covers.
Then Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, had said that the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri line would be delivered before the end of the tenure of the present administration.
But speaking on it during the post-FEC briefing, Sambo said financing the project has become an issue.
He said the federal government has not been able to obtain the foreign counterpart funding embedded in the project, making it impossible to fund it as envisaged.
