By Rex Enabulele/Abuja
The Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has gave a stern warning to China Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCECC), the major contractor handling the ongoing Kano-Kaduna rail project for deliberately slowing down the pace of work.
Amaechi who threatened to expose the company, accused the Chinese company of playing politics with the project, saying that he is going to report the company to President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigerians in general to know exactly what is delaying the project set for commissioning by 2023.
The minister, who spoke with the press on the sidelines shortly after inspecting facilities on the rail corridor, weekend, said: “CCECC is paying politics with the project.”
“The speed is extremely slow. They are supposed to have over 2,000 equipment on this project, they have just 541 so far.
“They claimed that over 300 are in Kaduna. We have sent a team to check. But even if you add that, you will still have just over 800. Just over 800 equipment compared to 2,000 means something is wrong somewhere.
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“I think the CCECC is beginning to play politics. They should move away from politics and focus on construction. And I think they need to complete the Kaduna-Kano rail as planned. I won’t say more than this until we meet with CCECC on Wednesday”, Amaechi said.
He spoke further, “I know they will claim that we haven’t funded them but part of their responsibility in the contract is for them to look for the money.
“CCECC hasn’t given us money. Chinese haven’t given us money. So they can’t afford to delay it because is their responsibility to look for the money.”
The minister threatened to address the press and Nigerians on Wednesday after meeting with CCECC If there is no difference.
According to him, “I will tell the country what’s going on. I think what they are doing is delay the project for this government to come to end.”
He maintain that the report from the project consultant show the project is just about five percent completed, which is unacceptable.
Speaking also on the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri narrow gauge project awarded to CCECC, Amaechi reveal that the contractor will explain why they’ve not mobilized to site after they’ve received some payment.
