FG approves $60bn for Nigeria’s first bullet train

The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) has approved the Outline Business Case (OBC) for Nigeria’s first bullet train, a $60 billion high speed rail project to be funded by China Liancai petroleum investment holdings.

The announcement followed a high level meeting held in Abuja on Tuesday, August 12, which included senior government officials such as the secretary to the government of the federation, George Akume, the minister of transportation, Said Alkali, and the minister of state for petroleum, Ekperike Ekpo.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the investment agreement with the Chinese partners.

With the ICRC approval of the OBC, the project led by the Nigerian Company Desadel Consortium (NCDC) can now advance to the next stage, preparing a full business case for submission to the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

According to Desadel’s CEO, Solomon Uko, the project had remained in the planning phase for about 10 years with little progress until recent months.

He noted that under the current administration, nearly 90% of the necessary approvals have been secured, and the investment from China has been formally confirmed with proof of funds documents presented during the meeting.

Uko stated, “The high-speed rail bullet train project that we started 10 years ago; it is this administration that has given us almost 90 percent of approvals. Today, with our partners, China’s Liancai Corporation, we have just presented official proof of funds for the project.

“The federal government of Nigeria, through the ICRC, approved the Outline Business Case, and the next step now was for us to submit the proof of funds to the government, which we have just done.”

The minister of transportation, Alkali, confirmed that his ministry had submitted the OBC to the ICRC and would now work on completing the full business case.

The ICRC director general, Oseodion Ewalefoh, said the commission will review and validate all submissions to ensure the project meets regulatory requirements before proceeding.

The first phase of the bullet train is expected to connect four states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with a projected completion timeline of 36 months once construction begins.