In May the government of Nigeria awarded a concession to rehabilitate, finance and operate Nigerian Railways Corporation’s 1067mm-gauge network to the consortium of GE, South Africa’s Transnet, Chinese infrastructure construction services company SinoHydro and port, terminals and intermodal services provider APM Terminals.
GE will now hand over leadership of the project to Transnet. “This development is in line with GE’s decision to exit the Transportation business from its portfolio,” GE said in an emailed statement. “Transnet has been a trusted partner of GE for several decades. We have confidence in their ability and that of the other consortium members to execute on the rail concession project successfully. We will continue to offer our utmost support to the team as we remain committed to the sustainable development of Nigeria.”
The interim phase of the project, which is due to be completed within 18 months, is intended to make the system “technically and economically operable.”
