PH/Maiduguri narrow gauge rail track laying gets to Aba–CCECC

Joseph Irikefe

About three years after the rehabilitation of the old Port Harcourt to Maiduguri narrow gauge rail was flagged off by former President Muhammdu Buhari, the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), the contractor, has said that the tracks laying which commenced from Port Harcourt has reached the commercial town of Aba.

This was disclosed in its latest post published on X. An official of the CCECC, John Zhao, announced the completion of the Port Harcourt to Aba rail line which is a driving distance of 61 kilometers.

He stated, “New year, new progress! The track laying from Port Harcourt to Aba on the Nigeria Eastern Narrow-Gauge Railway project has been completed by #CCECC.”

The announcement was published on the CCECC’s official website on December 29, 2023.

It would be recalled that, last week, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Fidet Okhiria, said track laying from Port Harcourt to Aba rail section would be ready in 15 days.

After about three years of delay and uncertainty as to whether the project will ever see the light of the day, the Federal Government in April 2023 announced the commencement of the reconstruction of the 2044 kilometer rail line.

It said the Port Harcourt-Enugu section was the first target in the project for completion.

In March 2021, former President Muhammed Buhari flagged off the $3.2 billion Port Harcourt-Maiduguri narrow gauge railway reconstruction project.

The then Miinister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, had said that the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line would connect Rivers, Abia, Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kaduna, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe and Borno states.