By Thompson ABISOLA
The Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, has said construction work at the ongoing Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge had been reached about 90 per cent completion.
Amaechi disclosed this while inspecting the project at Ewekoro-Papalanto axis of the project on Monday.
“We are progressing but there is no way they can fast-track the project during the raining season, but 90 per cent of the construction works has been done.
“I have told them to work day and night, to ensure the project keeps moving as expected, especially on the bridges and construction of modern station at Ebuta-Metta Lagos.
“I also told them that two weeks after the rain mush have stopped, they have to complete the remaining 10 per cent to allow them focus on laying of tracks,” Amaechi said.
According to him, by the end of October they should have finished all the bridges from Iju to Abeokuta.
The minister said laying of tracks would be an easy task after all the earthworks must have been completed.
Amaechi called on the contractor-China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC)- to expedite action on the pace of work to ensure timely delivery of the project.
The minister said the major challenge facing the project now was where to site the railway stations at various towns and communities along the corridor.
“Where to locate the railway stations has posed a great challenge as many communities find it difficult to release their land for such.
“We have such challenges in Abeokuta, Agege and other vital areas, where we needed to site the stations.
“It won’t be ideal after finishing the construction work and there is no rail station for people to board their train, but we are talking to the communities. Let them know the benefit of the stations to their communities,” he said.
According to him, the challenges of pipelines and cables in Lagos state have been resolved by casing the underground pipes for more protections against the vibrations of the train.
He said shifting the pipelines from the present locations to other places would cost more and prolong the project more than the slated delivery time.
Amaechi said efforts had been put in place by the contractor to safeguard the pipelines by fixing casing on it to ensure proper protection from the rail vibrations.
The minister assured the people that the project would be delivered in due course, adding that proper work needed to be done to ensure authenticity of the rail line.
