The Federal Government of Nigeria has signed a $3.9bn contract with the China Construction Railway Corporation, CCRC, to build a standard railway track connecting Abuja to Itakpe, Kogi State.
Under this Public-Private Partnership, the CCRC will operate both the rail line and the seaport in a bid to recover the money spent, liquidate the loans and handover the facilities to Nigeria within a period of 30 years.
“The signing ceremony that we had today is the first PPP railway agreement for Abuja-Itakpe or Abuja-Baru-Lakpe and Lokoja and it is between Nigeria and CCRC.
The agreement is 15 per cent Nigeria equity and 10 per cent CRCC equity and then we borrow 75 per cent as SPV from the Chinese bank,” Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi said shortly after signing the contract on behalf of the federal government.
