Senator Bassey Otu, the governor of Cross River State, conducted the historic ceremony for a 365-kilometer railway to link the southern section of the state with the north.
Driven by Messers Reinhoke LLC in collaboration with the state government, the project is a Public-Private Partnership sponsored effort.
The governor said that the railway project was one of the outcomes of the investment summit held in August 2023 at the Calabar International Convention Centre.
The groundbreaking ceremony was scheduled for Tuesday at Tinapa Free Zone Resort. Seeking buy-in in the development path of Cross River’s economy, the state administration actively engaged financial, infrastructure, and social investment partners during the summit.
“Today represents a significant turning point in our efforts to diversify the stock of our infrastructure by means of Grandlito Railway Project development from Calabar to Obudu in cooperation with Messers Reinhoke LLC.
“On completion, the project will cover an approx. 365km with main terminals in Calabar and Obudu; while three sub-stations will be located at Ugep, Ikom and Ogoja,” Otu stated.
He also revealed that the public-private cooperation in the provision of the infrastructure was based on funds from equity investments and debt financing from financial institutions with major backing from Cross River State government.
The estimated conservative cost for the project was also $350million. The governor corrected that the strategic placement of the state amid other sub-nationals formed the basis of the relevance of the rail project to the economic development of the state. Cross River is boundary to Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Sao Tome and Principe, he noted.
The Calabar Free Trade Zone (CFTZ), the biggest export processing zone in Nigeria, also calls it home. “The railway line will not only facilitate the easy intra-state movement but also serve as evacuation corridor for goods and services within international borders.”
Governor Otu expressed hope that the anticipated increase in world trade and its knock-on effects would drill down the entrepreneurial energy of Cross Riverians and stimulate the Gross Domestic Product, GDP of the state.
He charged communities whose areas the train project would cut through to provide maximum cooperation to the building business and banned Reinhooke Investment LLC, overseeing the railway project, to attach the necessary seriousness to fulfill the mandated timetable for completion.
In keeping with local content, the governor also instructed indigines of such villages to apply for sub-jobs from the company based on their capacities and set-skills using local knowledge.
In his comments, Stanley Orji of Rinehooke Investments LLC said the project will draw investments, boost job creation, support the founding of new businesses including Hi-tech, tourism, manufacturing, agriculture, as well as simplify state corporate operations.
This will make Cross River appealing to local as well as foreign investors, he said. He also guaranteed of his company’s dedication to contractual responsibilities and project implementation inside the set period.
