Expert wants FG to develop Calabar-Lagos coastal rail project

By Usman Mohammed

President Buhari

A transport expert, Mr. Ita Ededet Osukpong has called on the Federal Government to renew its effort In development of Calebar-Lagos Coastal Railway project, saying that it was capable of opening up economic corridor of the Coastal States.

In a press statement released in Abuja at the weekend, Mr. Osukpong noted that the project if fully developed will serve as a catalyst for economic transformation of the South South, South East, North Central in particular and the whole nation in general.

According Osukpong, “The moment the project comes on stream, all the ports on the Coastal States shall optimally fulfill their full potentials as it remains the only lasting solution to the Lagos gridlock traffic problem.

‘Hence exporters and importers would no longer stampede into using Lagos ports and the gridlock would naturally disappear given way to other ports to grow and serve the rest of the country particularly the North Central and East and beyond effectively.

Osukpong says that the situation did not only present the atmosphere of an organized confusion, but also loss of man hour productivity, delay in goods and services delivery, and indeed, frustration.

He said that about 8096 of all maritime and aviation industries related activities in the country took place in Lagos coupled with the development of the Eco-Atlantic city.

“Consequently, with development of coastal railway line, maritime industry is expected to grow in other seaports to stimulate socioeconomic development, create jobs and boost economic profile of the Coastal States towards greater revenue autonomy away from the Present dependency on federal allocation.‘

He congratulated President Mohammadu Buhari on his re-election and urged him to quickly embark on institutional Reforms in all specialized institutions including Ministry of Transportation towards promoting professionalism with a view to encourage productivity in the sector.

“As most departments in the Ministry do not have the institutional capacity to deliver on their mandates, association with colossal waste of public resources and time, except for the rail that China, the technical partner have invested their resources -both financial and knowledge to driving its success, while aviation is driven by technical arid professional expertise because of its peculiarity” the statement concluded.