China Railway Construction Corp. Ltd. (CRCC) has disclosed that China and Nigeria will sign an official construction contract early Thursday, Beijing time, to build a railway along the African country’s coast.
The CRCC, which noted that the 11.97 billion U.S. dollar contract is China’s single largest overseas contract project, informed that trains will travel at a top speed of 120 km per hour on the facility when completed.
The coastal 22-stop railway, which will stretch for 1,402 kilometers, will connect Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos in the west with Calabar in the east.
CRCC chairman Meng Fengchao, who decribed the project as “a mutually beneficial one,” added that the coastal railway project will adopt Chinese technological standards and result in equipment exports worth 4 billion dollars, such as construction machinery, trains and steel products.
“Meanwhile, the project will create up to 200,000 local jobs, directly or indirectly. Up to 30,000 fixed job posts may also be provided when the railway is operational,” he pointed out.
Also speaking, the president of CRCC, Zhang Zongyan, informed that the company would undertake further studies on the targeted market in order to allow railway, a green and efficient transportation mode, to play more significant roles in Africa.
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