NNPC Station to be Demolished to Make Way for Abuja Rail

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) petrol station in the Central Business District will soon be demolished to make way for the Abuja rail mass transit project.

A senior official in the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) revealed to journalists that the NNPC Mega Station is currently situated in the area earmarked for Abuja railway’s main station, and the gas station was originally erected on a temporary basis.

“Corridors have been left for 30, 40 years. So people come and erect structures, promising to remove them when government needs them,” he said.

The railway, when completed, will run from Idu and its main station will be situated at the NNPC station’s site, where the rail will now go on to Kubwa.

There are currently two rail development projects in the capital, one runs from Idu through Kubwa to Kaduna and is managed by the government, and the other links Idu to the Central Business District and Kubwa and will be managed by the FCTA. 

The Abuja rail contract was awarded in 2007 by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, but work didn’t begin until 2009 due to delays in releasing the funds.

In 2011, China Civil Engineering Construction Company agreed to complete the job on loan after the government was unable to finance the project alone.

The Abuja rail network comprises of six lots covering a distance of 300km, with lots one and three currently under construction. The FCTA’s secretary of transport, Mr Jonathan Ivoke pledged that lots one and three will be completed in 2015.

The rail network is designed to run on diesel and electricity, with 39 sets of DMU locomotives and 6,300 capacity passenger cars. The 2030 forecast is for 437,200 passengers per day. When fully operational, the rail network will provide employment for 20,000 people in FCT.