Sure, in Europe and Asia, high-speed rail is booming, but reported recently that huge plans for such railways to connect three major Moroccan cities were also in the works. Now, another African country is looking to take huge infrastructure leaps, and it just got one step closer to making those goals a reality.
The country in question? That would be Nigeria, where on Tuesday August 12, a syndicate of construction companies and developers, De-Sadel Consortium, brought a high-speed rail proposal to the government.
Set to be funded by the Asian Development Investment Bank (a China-backed institution, which is one of the largest of its kind on the planet), it’s projected to cost a staggering – wait for it – $60 billion.
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According to Newsweek, the railway could stretch to 2,500 miles and the first phase of the project will connect the cities of Lagos, Aduja, Kano and Port Harcourt, with journey time between those first two cities slashed from 12 hours to a mere three.
If approved, this first phase (which itself will cost an estimated $55 billion) will commence sometime in the next few years, once it has passed environmental authorisations, reports Ecofin Agency.
‘The rail line is from Lagos to Abuja, to Kano, and from Abuja to Port Harcourt. So this is a very great work that the government has done. The federal government of Nigeria, through the ICRC, approved the outline business case,’ said De-Sadel Consortium CEO Samuel Uko. ‘And the next step now was for us to submit the proof of funds to the government, which we just did. So I believe in the shortest possible time, Nigeria will start enjoying high-speed rail in Nigeria.’
So, while this project is still awaiting approval from the Government of the Federation, and there’s no clear timeline for its completion yet, it all sounds like an exciting development for the region. Stay tuned for more updates.
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