MONORAIL PROJECTS Mission Statement Sustaining the developing economy with innovative ideas. Corporate Goal MetroRail aims at networkingNigeria. Increasingly we arefocused on delivering improved standards of safety, reliability and efficiency in the transportation,power and telecommunications industry.This benefits our customers and society at large…everyday and everywhere! “The Gateway City Monorail”Our aim is to co-own, operate,maintain and invest in Nigeria's first Monorail network...   1.1 INTRODUCTION The idea of developing rapid transit in Nigeria dates from the1980s with the Lagos Metroline network conceived by the Alhaji Lateef Jakande during the Nigerian Second Republic The initialMetroline project was scrapped in 1985 by Muhammadu Buhari at a loss of over $78 million to the Lagos taxpayers.Nevertheless, in 2003, the idea of developing a light rail network for Lagos was proposed by Governor Bola Tinubu in theearly 2000s with a formal announcement of its construction in December 2003. This initial $135 million proposal was part of the greater Lagos Urban Transportation Project to be implemented by the newly formed Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority. With little progress made on the implementation of a light rail network, by 2008, estimates for a full network in Lagos were raised to N70billion for a 35km lightrail line from Iddo in Lagos to Ijoko in Ogun State. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagos_Light_Rail 2.1 UPDATE ON RAIL TRANSIT SYSTEMS IN NIGERIA Fig. 1 2.1.1 NIGERIA RAILWAY CORPORATION (NRC) Fig. 2 Thursday, 05 July 2007 The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has launched a refurbished 13-coach train. Aimed at alleviating growing traffic problems in Lagos, it is to run between Iddo on the Lagos mainland and Alagbado (25km) in Ogun State. The train includes two first-class air-conditioned coaches. According to NRC spokesman David Ndakotsu, these are meant for “the comfort of senior civil servants and business executives who might prefer the ‘park-and-ride’ option. Fig. 3 Goods waiting to be loaded on train Quoted by The Daily Trust, published in Abuja, Ndakotsu said that the train could convey 1,560-seated passengers, adding that NRC has refurbished 300 covered wagons for transporting fertiliser from Lagos to the north. Each wagon, he said,carries 500 tonnes of fertiliser. “Refurbishing of grounded locomotives, coaches and wagons would be continuous as the NRC was on an aggressive mission to win back some of its former customers” (Rail line Gauge: 1,067mm gauge). 2.1.2 ABUJA: Fig. 4 Friday, 25 April 2008 According to Nigerian Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Dr Aliyu Modibbo Umar, the metro rail system proposed for Abuja may be stalled for lack of funds. The project is estimated to need N100 billion but only N1 billion has been budgeted in 2008. The private sector is likely to be invited to participate in a Public Private Partnership.Abuja’s master plan for a metro transport system, conceived originally in 1981, envisages a light rail network in the central city and a Rapid Rail Transit (RRT)system extending further out. The current project was designed by CPCS Transport Nigeria Limited and is to be built by China Civil Engineering and Construction Corporation (CCECC). 2.1.3 LAGOS: Fig. 5 LAGOS LRT NEEDS $US3BN Friday, 18 April 2008 A report in the Nigerian paper This Day quotes acting managing director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Jetson Nwankwo saying that about $US3billion will be needed to build the envisaged Lagos light rail system. He expects financing either by the World Bank or the African Development Bank (ADB) in conjunction with Nigeria’s federal government and that of Lagos state.Nwankwo estimates the cost of light rail at between $US3 million and $US6million per kilometre, depending on where it is to run. 2.1.4 AJAOKUTA Fig. 6 $US50, 000 FOR NIGERIAN RAIL REPAIR Friday, 18 January 2008 During recent heavy rains, severe damage was caused to Nigeria’s only 1,435mm gauge railway, which runs from the steelworks at Ajaokuta to the port of Warri. Floodwaters washed away the line and created a deep gully at kilometre 38. A sum of 9 million Naira (about $US50, 000) has been allocated for repairs.It is reported that the access channel for shipping at Warri remains a problem as it is not deep enough for large vessels. NIGERIAN MONORAIL On 24 April, Nigeria’s Cross River State Governor Donald Duke formally performed a ground-breaking ceremony at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport in Calabar (in the south-east of Nigeria, 150km east of Port Harcourt) to begin work on a new $US36 million monorail project. Linking the airport to the Tinapa Business Resort, a distance of 12.9km, the line is expected to be completed within 18 months. The Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank is arranging funding. According to Governor Duke, quoted by This Day, published in Lagos, the private-sector-driven project will be “highly profitable”, and will pay back its investment in “about four years”. Sophisticated as it may seem, he told the audience, it is “guaranteed to work”. It is followed by a second phase, in which the line will be extended to “other areas of the hinterland."Project manager of Calabar Monorail Ltd Wolfang Hahn explained that trains carrying about 110 passengers would travel at a maximum speed of 60km/h. They will feature automatic sliding doors, air conditioning, a two-waycommunication system and closed circuit television (cctv). Automatic driverlesscontrol is envisaged, with provision for trains to be driven manually whenrequired. http://railwaysafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2161&Itemid        TEL:      234 1 2711284       234 7034052305      234 8082195905    234 8052602376          ADDRESS:    72 Opebi Road,Ikeja Lagos,Nigeria           E-MAIL:     Info@monorailnigeria.com     Cashin@monorailnigeria.com