A company based in the United States of America, Ameri Metro Inc., has approached the federal government for the construction of speed rail projects all over the country worth $10billion.
This was disclosed in Abuja yesterday by the founding father of the company, Shah Mathias after a meeting with the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi at the ministry.
The company said it decided to show interest in the project after they got hint that the Chinese company wouldn’t be able to deliver on the project as proposed.
Speaking to journalists, Mathias said “we are in design process and our goal is to take this to build. We are here to do the presentation for the high speed rail.
“Our goal is to build the rail system in order for other industries to come because technologies and the transportation there is more modern that what is available here in Nigeria.
“We will like to commence the project as soon as we are given the opportunity and we will invest 100 percent of the project cost.
“We have been told the project cost is over $10billion and we are ready to deliver new railway, new locomotives, everything will be new.
“We are looking at Port Harcourt-Lagos- Calabar route first because we heard that the Chinese have not been able to raise money, so we are possibly going to raise the money and take it over from the Chinese.”
On whether they would partner with the Chinese company to deliver on the project, Mathias said: “We are not partnering with anybody at this point.
“We want to build the coastal rail for Nigeria and it is going to be high speed and not the standard gauge. We have the capacity and competence to do it. We have done it in the United States and we can do it here.”
