Lagos-Ibadan Rail: Chinese Firm Worries Over Robbery, Theft

• Lagos-Ibadan Rail: Chinese Firm Worries Over Robbery, Theft

The contractor handling the construction of a standard gauge rail line along the Lagos-Ibadan corridor, China Civil Engineering and Construction Company, has lamented the prevalence of robbery attacks and theft of their equipment in the Lagos end of the project.

This may further slow down the pace of work on the project as the CCECC workers may have to limit their activities to the daytime.

This concern was raised by the contractor during last week’s meeting with the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, which was meant to assess the volume of work executed and identify areas of challenges.

Already, the minister has hinted that the December 2018 initial completion time for the project is no longer feasible.

Amaechi told journalists after the meeting with the CCECC team and inspection of the project along the Ewekoro-Papalanto area that the new Lagos-Ibadan rail line would become operational by February 2019.

The shift in the delivery date, it was learnt, was due to a number of factors such as prolonged rainy season, some encumbrances along the railway’s right of way, and lately the robbery attacks on the CCECC workers.

Even as the minister urged the contractors to speed up the work for the train services to commence in February 2019, he said he was impressed with the level of work done thus far.

The contractors did not give details of the robbery attacks, types of equipment stolen and the value of items.

By the time the train starts running in February, it may not go beyond Abeokuta from Lagos, going by the hint of the minister.

He said, “I am sure that you are impressed with what you see; I am impressed 50/50. I have told them (CCECC) that there must be a train on the track before February. It doesn’t matter where; there must be a train that should be able to convey passengers up to Abeokuta, if not up to Ibadan.

“Before February, there must be a train that makes transport sense. What makes transport sense is that you are able to leave Lagos at least to Abeokuta, if not to Ibadan.”

On the security challenges being faced by the contractor, the minister urged the team to beef up security around them and their equipment.

He said, “Things are happening in Lagos; they have challenges. That is the greatest problem we have. The challenges are numerous; they talked about being attacked by communities, armed robbers, equipment being stolen. We didn’t experience that between Abeokuta and Oyo. So, I have told them to also get security men so that they can get protected.”