Representative Image ANI | Updated: Feb 16, 2021 15:30 IST
Beijing [China], February 16 (ANI): In yet another example of China s debt-trap diplomacy, Kenya has been roped in a deal with a six-month debt repayment holiday worth USD 245 million.
The deal was struck a week after the Paris club of creditors, an informal group of creditors offered the same debt-service suspension worth USD 300 million until the end of June 2021.
The African nation has been struggling to meet the repayments, as some of the projects, including the Standard Gauge Railway - built as part of Beijing s Belt and Road Initiative, are not generating enough income to pay for themselves, South China Morning Post reported.
Nigerians are gradually being reintroduced to rail transport following the determination of the Federal Government to rebuild the country’s rail network and even construct new ones. Although past administrations since the restoration of democracy had attempted to revive Nigeria’s railways, whose decline symbolised the rot in the country’s infrastructure, President Muhammadu Buhari has set his administration apart from its predecessors with its achievements in the sector so far. It made railway modernisation its cardinal project and has not relented ever since. In 2018 the President projected that by the end of 2021, the country would have a standard gauge railway across the main North-South trading route.
Mujib Dada-Gadri urges government to subsidise rail transport to make it affordable
Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation, was speaking at the inauguration of the governing council of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIOTA) in Abuja on Friday, 4 December 2020 and he said categorically, “Today I approved the charges on passengers from Lagos to Ibadan, we just transfer how we charged from Abuja. We charge N3,000 per economy seat, N5,000 for business class, and N6,000 for first class, the same is applicable to Lagos to Ibadan”. He hinted about the commencement of operations by January 2021. The Lagos-Ibadan railway (SGR) is to track on 156km and stations will capture these “corridors”: Apapa, Agege, Agbado, Kajola, Papalanto, Abeokuta, Olodo, Omi-Adio and Ibadan. This is undoubtedly fantastic as this remarkable project connects three states strategically.
Lagos-Ibadan rail fares and economic realities - The Nation Nigeria thenationonlineng.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thenationonlineng.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.