The Nigerian government is to rehabilitate and modernize the country's rail system with 2 billion U.S. dollars, a senior Nigerian official said here on Thursday.

"Nigeria has recently entered into an agreement with China for a concessional loan of 1 billion dollars for the rehabilitation and modernization of its rail system," Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport Babangida Aliyu said, adding that Nigeria had also approved another 1 billion dollars as its own counterpart funding for the project.

The government on Thursday inaugurated six "sub-project engineering teams" to facilitate the rehabilitation and modernization of the railway system, he said.

The teams are Old Tracks Rehabilitation, New Lines, Rolling Stock and New Acquisition, Signals and Communications, Security and Safety and Procurement. They were expected to assist the contractors with technical inputs for the rehabilitation work, he added.

Aliyu described the assignment as "enormous," noting that the government wanted results, in order to fully revive the rail system.

He charged the project teams to work as a team, as well as share the same vision, so as to bring back the lost glory of the railways.

"We want the teams to be very serious and up and doing in their assignments, so that those that gave us the loan, the contractors, Nigerians and government will have confidence in the rehabilitation work," Aliyu said.

"We want a functional rail system to reduce pressure on our roads and also boost socio-economic activities in places were the rail lines passes," he added.

The project teams are expected to work with the ministry's consultants Messers TEAM Nig. Ltd. in analyzing the various submissions needed to put the rail system back on track.

Nigerian President Obasanjo has already constituted presidential and ministerial committees to ensure the smooth implementation of the rail rehabilitation exercise as well as monitor the progress of work.

Nigeria has about 3,502 kilometers of rail lines which run across some parts of the country. But due to lack of managerial expertise and maintenance measures, the rail system has a low efficiency and does not function well.

Source: Xinhua