OGUN, Nigeria, Nov 10 (NNN-XINHUA) – Chinese construction giant, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), will build a rolling stock assembly plant in Nigeria, to promote the country’s railway modernisation project.
At a groundbreaking ceremony for the plant at Kajola, a town in the southwestern state of Ogun, Nigeria’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, said, it is a “historic turning point” in Nigeria’s railway modernisation plan.
“When completed, it is expected that the plant will produce some wagons for the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna rail line … and to satisfy the needs of other rail operators within the West African sub-region, and indeed within the African continent,” said Osinbajo.
“The plant would offer an important platform for technicians, artisans, and others, to gain specialised skills for the production and maintenance of rolling stocks,” Osinbajo added.
Nigerian Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, said, the assembly plant would be the first of its kind in Nigeria, and it was to “meet the increasing demands of both passenger and freight, on the new Nigerian standard gauge railway service.”
The plant would generate about 5,000 jobs, the minister added.
Li Yuan, economic and commercial counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria, pledged to encourage Chinese companies to invest in Nigeria’s manufacturing and agricultural sectors.
Li said, China’s direct investment in Nigeria’s manufacturing sector has grown to three billion U.S. dollars, creating tens of thousands of jobs.
The plant has the capacity to produce 500 wagons per year and will undertake key production processes, like welding, assembly, painting, drying and testing, said Jiang Yigao, managing director of the CCECC.
“Nigeria is surely marching to greater development and the CCECC will continue to partner with Nigeria, in ensuring the technological development of the country,” Jiang said.– NNN-XINHUA