The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has said it was set to go back to site for the construction of an additional 5.76 kilometers of light rail tracks and also to fix vandalised areas of the track, which would cost the Administration about $272 million.
The Mandate Secretary for the FCT Transport Secretariat, Alhaji Zakari Dobi, made this known when the management of the secretariat inspected the vandalised Abuja Light Rail Track and Idu Training Centre.
Dobi disclosed that the bill for the construction of the 5.76 kilometers rail track was before the FCTA Permanent Secretary on its way to the FCT Minister’s table, expressing optimism that the minister, who has so much concern about the Abuja Light Rail, would quickly sign and return the file.
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“Two things informed this outing. Firstly, to be able to again evaluate and assess the level of vandalisation on the track. Secondly, to also look at the Training Centre at Idu Rail Station to be able to relocate some Departments of the FCT Administration, transportation secretariat due to challenges of office spaces in Area 11.
“What we saw was quite bad even though when I assumed office I have been briefed about the issue of vandalisation. We have the intention to go back to the site for the construction of 5.76 kilometers rail track in Abuja.
“The cost of the construction also contains fixing the vandalized areas. We have seen some of the fresh areas that were vandalised and I want to believe that the projection made earlier on fixing the vandalised area will still accommodate what we saw,” he said.
He noted that the vandalisation occurred as a result of a lack of operation, adding that if the operation was on constantly, it would reduce the level of vandalisation.
He assured that the FCTA would fix all the vandalised areas to ensure proper utilisation of the already completed areas with the four Diesel Multiple Units on the ground to put an end to vandalisation.
“We are going to look at the issues to see if we can come up with possible ways on how to stop the vandalisation completely but I do know that the first thing to do is to resume operation,” Dobi stated.
