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The Federal Government has signed a deal with an international consortium led by General Electric (GE) for the interim phase of the concession of Nigeria’s narrow-guage rail network.
The agreement was signed on Friday in Washingnton D.C. The consortium comprises GE, SinoHydro, Transnet and APM Terminals.
According to a release by the Head of Communications of GE Nigeria, Yewande Thorpe, the interim phase of the rail concession, will include:
- Remedial works on part of the narrow-guage rail line system to mKe it technically and exonomically operable
- A joint operation between the consortium and the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC)
- Supply of 10 locomotives a d 200 wagon to augment the existing rolling stick in Nigeria.
She said “this program is expexted to deliver an increase in the number of available locomotives thus increasing the frequency of passenger and freight rail services. In addition, freight haulage capacity by the end of the first 12 months of the interim phase is expected to increase roughly ten-fold, from its current less than 50,000 metric tonnes per annum to about 500,000 metric tonnes per annum”
Read the full statement below: