Ogun to Commence $1.2bn Rail Project Soon − Commissioner

The Ogun State Government has said it will soon commence the construction of a $1.2bn rail project in the state.

The Commissioner for Information for the state, Mr. Dayo Adeneye made the disclosure on Tuesday.

Adeneye assured communities along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway that they have not been forgotten by the government.

“We want to reassure our border towns, like Ibafo, Arepo, that we have not forgotten them,” the commissioner said.

“As a matter of fact, it is the next on our agenda. We are doing operation 100-100 in which the government has said we are doing a hundred rural roads in hopefully, a hundred days.”

He said even though oil prices and dwindling revenues are making it difficult to work as fast as possible, the roads still must be fixed and it will be very soon.

The commissioner said transportation is at the forefront of the plans for the state. He said if transportation is fine it attracts more people because nobody wants to live where they can’t move around.

He added, “In the next couple of months, probably less than two months, we are going to kick start our rail projects and it is going to be tapping into the federal government owned system.

“As a matter of fact, the same Chinese construction company that is doing the federal government owned railways will be doing the Ogun State project.

“Our governor was able to sign the memorandum when he travelled with the president just few weeks ago. It is a $1.2b project and it is already in the works.

“Secondly, we are working on our airport, people may ask why we need the airport, there is one in Lagos already. But when you think of the fact that there are over 400 industries in Ogun State; we have the likes of Coca Cola and we have Nestle, we have the largest ceramic manufacturing company in Africa now in Ogun State.

“The MDs will want to visit their companies, the managers and all will visit the companies. Then we have international investors who will want to visit Ogun State. So that’s why we also have our airport in the works to help ease up the stress on the road.”

On the issue of security, the commissioners said though no government can prepare for all eventualities, Ogun State has shown that it can respond rapidly. He said the State has invested heavily in the Police and the situation of security has improved to the extent that companies are now flourishing.

He promised that the government will not relent on its effort to keep making the state safe for all its inhabitants.