China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), the contractor laying tracks on the Eastern Narrow Railway project, said it has completed tracks laying on the Port Harcourt to Aba section. CCECC disclosed this via a statement published on the official website of the construction company on Wednesday.
“The tracks laying from Port Harcourt to Aba on the Nigeria Eastern Narrow-Gauge Railway project have been completed,” the statement read. The Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Fidet Okhiria, in an end-of-year interactive session held in Lagos, assured that the tracks laying from Port Harcourt to Aba on the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri corridor would be ready in 15 days.
The Eastern Narrow-Gauge Railway is a vital component of the railway network, which could improve connectivity between local railways, ports and cities.
The laying of tracks on the Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri Railway corridor is ongoing, possessing the great potential to contribute to the country’s economy and social development upon completion.
In 2022, the then Transport Minister, 
The government is expected to provide 15 per cent of the $3 billion rehabilitation and reconstruction cost, while the Chinese syndicate takes up the rest.
In September 2023, the immediate past transport minister, Saidu Alkali, decried the slow pace of CCECC on the reconstruction of the Eastern Railway corridor, attributing it to the contractor’s use of the manual alignment process of track laying.
The Eastern Railway, when completed will connect Rivers, Imo, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kaduna, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, and Borno States by rail.
