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The Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Fidet Okhiria, said on Wednesday that construction works for the $1.5 billion Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line will commence on Friday, April 14. Speaking to the press in Lagos, he advised encroachers to leave the construction site before works begin.

“Those who encroached on the land have to leave the premises as soon as possible because constructions will begin on Friday...we have told them to remove their valuables before the bulldozers start work,’’ he said.

Okhiria said the rail line, which spans 156.65 kilometres, will have two stations in Ibadan. He assured communities on the railway axis that the project would facilitate development and provide employment opportunities for the youths in the villages.

The Lagos-Ibadan rail project, which has been awarded to China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), and jointly funded by Nigeria and China, is the first phase of a new Lagos-Kano standard gauge line. The old rail line stretched over 1,124 kilometres.

The entire Lagos-Kano stretch was first awarded in 2006 to the CCECC by President Olusegun Obasanjo administration for $8.3 billion. The project suffered a setback when the administration of President Umaru Yar’Adua, which succeeded Obasanjo’s in May 2007, said the contract was illegal, having not been presented to the National Assembly for ratification. It was, however, re-awarded in 2012 by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan for execution in six phases starting with the Lagos-Ibadan stretch.

Okhiria appealed to indigenes of the surrounding communities to cooperate with the construction workers, urging them to provide support when contract works begin in their villages. He also promised compensations to displaced indigenes as part of the NRC’s contract with the communities.

According to a statement made by Okhiria in January 2017, the completion of the Lagos-Ibadan rail project is expected to take 18 months from the commencement of construction works.