Gov. Bassey Otu performing the ground breaking of the 365 km Calabar-Obudu Railway line on Tuesday
…As Gov Otu Performs Ground-Breaking
By Anietie Akpan
Construction of a $350m Calabar-Obudu Railway line is underway in Cross River state.
This will be the first ever rail line in Cross River as the State Governor, Senator Bassey Otu on Tuesday performed the ground-breaking ceremony for a 365-kilometre railway to connect the Southern , Central and Northern parts of the state.
A press release by the Chief Press Secretary to the State Governor, Comrade Nsa Gill, said the project is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) funded initiative driven by Messers Reinhoke LLC in partnership with the State government.
Performing the ground-breaking ceremony at the premises of the Tinapa Free Zone Resort, the Governor stated that the railway project is one of the fruits of the Investment Summit held in August 2023, at the Calabar International Convention Centre (CCIC), where the state government had a robust engagement with financial, infrastructure and social investment players, seeking buy-in in the growth trajectory of the state’s economy.
“Today therefore, marks an important milestone in our quest to expand and diversify the stock of our infrastructure by partnering with Messers Reinhoke LLC for the construction of the Grandlito Railway Project that will run from Calabar to Obudu. On completion, the project will cover an approximate distance of 365km with main terminals in Calabar and Obudu; while three sub-stations will be located at Ugep, Ikom and Ogoja,” Otu said.
Otu disclosed that $350m is estimated as conservative cost for the project, adding that the PPP in the provision of the infrastructure is based on funds from equity investments and debt financing from financial institutions with significant backing from the state government.
The governor averred that the importance of the rail project to the economic growth of the state is premised on the strategic location of the state among other sub-nationals as “Cross River is frontier to Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Sao Tome and Principe. It is also home to the largest export processing zone in Nigeria – the Calabar Free Trade Zone (CFTZ).
“The railway line will not only facilitate the easy intra-state movement, but will serve as evacuation corridor for goods and services within international borders”.
He expressed optimism that “the expected boost in international trade and its ripple effect will drill down the entrepreneurial spirit of Cross Riverians and trigger the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)”.
Otu enjoined the company handling the railway project, Reinhooke Investment LLC, to attach the desired seriousness in order to meet the stipulated timeline for completion as he also charged communities whose areas the rail project will cut through to give maximum cooperation to the construction company, directing indigenes of such communities to, in line with local content, apply for sub-jobs from the firm based on their capacities and set-skills.
He reassured Cross Riverians that his administration remains poised to changing the infrastructural landscape of the state through enduring partnerships.
In his speech, Stanley Orji of Rinehooke Investments LLC, said the project will attract investments, stimulate job creation and encourage the establishment of new businesses such as Hi-tech, tourism, manufacturing, agriculture, as well as bolster the ease of doing business in the state, making Cross River an attractive destination for both local and international investors, while assuring of his company’s commitment to contractual obligations and project execution within the agreed timeframe.
