The World Bank has advised the Federal Government on how to go about the rehabilitation of the railway system in the country. According to the bank, the ongoing rehabilitation should be restricted, for now, to the Eastern and Western rail lines.
In a 58-page report made available to The Guardian in Abuja yesterday, the bank noted that by 2010, the threshold traffic density for economic viability would materialise only on parts of western and eastern lines.
"It is, therefore, recommended that only such parts of the length of the track on these two lines be rehabilitated initially (Lagos to Kano and Port Harcourt to Jos and Kaduna).
"The rehabilitation of the rest of the main line should be carried out a few years later or carried out by using second-hand released materials so that investment per route kilometre is substantially lower," said the report.
It advised that the East-West line connecting Lagos to Enugu/Umuahia (800km) and Calabar to Aba (150km) should be evaluated for financial viability based on projected traffic volumes and preferably built on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis with minimum support from the Federal Government to fill the viability gap.
It added that Ajaokuta-Warri standard gauge line to Baro with an interchange with narrow gauge system at Baro should be evaluated for financial and economic viability.
"The narrow gauge connection between Apapa and Tincan Island (seven km) and between Port Harcourt and Onne (19km) may be constructed either on PPP basis or funded by the Federal Government after a financial and economic viability evaluation is carried out.
The report, prepared by the bank in conjunction with the Department for International Development, explained that over the years, several unsuccessful attempts have been made to get Nigerian Railways Corporation (NRC) to function in an efficient manner on a sustained basis.
"The consensus that has emerged now is that NRC cannot deliver as a parastatal and should be concessioned to bring in private sector investment as well as management skills," said the report.
It noted that rail mass transit system in Lagos would be of immense help in reducing congestion on road and provide relief to commerce.
Making reference to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) concession agenda, the World Bank in the report said such strategy would be developed in consultation with the Lagos State Metropolitan Transport Authority (LAMATA).
Titled: "Review of the future of Nigerian Railway", it put locomotive availability at NRC at six per cent, adding that the development is "dismal" compared with locomotive availability percentage of about 75 in Africa and 85-90 in more efficiently managed railways elsewhere.
"The availability of wagons (28 per cent) and passengers coaches (29 per cent) is also low in comparison to international level of 95 per cent and 90 per cent respectively.
"The traffic hauled has declined to less than 50,000 tonnes of freight and about one million passengers per year from 3.0 million tonnes of freight and 15 million passengers per year in the past.
"The market share of NRC is not significant and is estimated to be of the order of one per cent.
"Several studies have been carried out in recent years to identify strategies to restore NRC to normal health.
"Strategies proposed range from phased rehabilitation and modernisation (including conversion from narrow to standard gauge) and extension of rail network, and concessioning of NRC.
"The BPE has now drawn out plans for concessioning of NRC so that private sector investment and management skills could be deployed for the rehabilitation and revitalisation of the railway system," the bank said.
Going down memory lane, the report said that the NRC went into a decline in the 1960s and 1970s, adding that the government sought the support of RITES, an Indian consulting company, to rehabilitate and improve the operations of the corporation.
"Efforts made by RITES from 1978 to 1982 were fairly successful, but NRC's performance could not be sustained after the RITES team left in 1982 and traffic volume carried by NRC declined rapidly.
"After failure of local efforts to revitalise NRC, the Federal Government contracted China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) to rehabilitate the railway in 1995.
"The contract, valued at $528.7 million, covered the following:
- track rehabilitation, including grade reduction, easing curves, maintenance of formation and bridges – $211.5m
- semi-automatic signal system – $81.8m
- locomotives (50) – $100m
- passenger coaches (150) – $90m
- freight wagon (400) – $28.4m
- design support – $9.6m
- Chinese experts – $4.3m
The World Bank identified several reports that have been carried out without any visible result.
Notable among these are the "master-plan on integrated Transport Infrastructure (Feb. 2002); 25 years strategic vision for Nigerian Railway System (July 2002), Diagnostic and Commercialisation study of NRC (2002), Report on the road map for reform, restructuring, concessioning of Nigerian Railway (2005) and Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), among others.
By Moses Ebosele, Senior Transport Reporter
The Guardian
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
