Enugu Plans 135km Rail Line to Link South-East Cities With Onne Port as Part of Logistics Hub Vision

The government of the State of Enugu has announced an ambitious plan to develop a standard state line of 135.5 kilometers designed to connect Enugu to the key cities in the Southeast and connect them directly to the Port ONE in the state of rivers.

The project, if carried out, could considerably reposition the State as a logistics center, offering another export corridor to Lagos.

On Friday, the state commissioner for transport, Dr. Obi Ozor, who revealed the plan on the ENUGU KWENU program of AFIA TV, said that the rail network would be a strategic development towards regional integration, economic acceleration and growth led by export.

Dr. Ozor confirmed that a complete feasibility study for the Enugu rail network and the southeast corridor was already over. The State is currently engaging with Chinese companies and Nigerian Railway Corporation on technical aspects while organizing financing talks with potential investors.

Itinerary details

The 135.5 km standard gauge line will start from Enugu and go to Ugwuoba in the state of Anambra, connecting cities such as Awka and Onitsha. From there, he will cross the Amechi Idodo axis of the State of Ebonyi, Liera Umuahia in Abia and Owerri in the state of Imo via Nkanu West and Isiagu, before ending at the port of One in the state of Rivers.

“As part of the transformation of the state of Enugu into a hub, the rail is an essential element to allow the movement of agro-production products due to where their sources are towards the port for export and the gain of foreign exchange. We have a lot of wealth locked under our soil, like coal.

The commissioner stressed that the rail line will support both freight and passenger services, not only to decongest the traffic of the submerged Lagos ports of Nigeria, but also to stimulate trade across the South-East and the South-South.

Part of a larger transport program

The rail plan is a single larger transport framework which includes the development of an interior container terminal and a new market station in the Holy Spirit transport terminal in Enugu. According to Dr. Ozor, the market station will be located between terminals 1 and 2 and will serve as a key node for the manipulation of goods.

“We are developing an important port of interior containers which will treat agro-seakers for the Southeast and even the northeast. It is a question of giving our economy the infrastructure it needs to compete, “he said.

He noted that the federal government also extends its narrow gauge rail of Aba to Enugu, a separate 24 -month plan, but stressed that the Enugu project is an autonomous state initiative adapted to the adaptation of the regional development priorities.

Regional integration has urged in the middle of the push of the eastern port

The announcement comes at a time when stakeholders and infrastructure experts call for the management of the South-East and South-South to start integrating their savings thanks to an interconnected rail network, in particular as the momentum develops around the push to decongest Lagos by extending the eastern ports, in particular onne, Calabar and Port Harcourt.

There is an increasing consensus according to which rail development is essential to the success of this eastern maritime strategy. However, experts warn that the current state of regional disconnection will make it difficult for a single state to make such ambitions alone.

However, so far, only the state of Enugu has publicly announced a concrete plan. While other states in the region – Anambra, Abia, Imo, Ebonyi, Rivers – have expressed broad support for the development of infrastructure, there was no specific announcement on rail projects linked to a regional corridor or the Port ONON.

This lack of coordinated effort, according to experts, could undermine the effectiveness of any investment in a single state, especially since the rail requires a contiguous territory to operate optimally through the lines of the State.

The broader role of China

The Enugu rail plan also emerges at a time when China seeks to deepen its infrastructure imprint across Africa. In the midst of an increase in repercussions with the United States, more recently marked by the taxation of Washington prices up to 145% on Chinese electric vehicles, Beijing intensified efforts to forge new trade relations through Asia and Africa.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has embarked on a renewed diplomatic and commercial tour of several Asian countries in recent weeks, aimed at locking new agreements that correspond to the belt and the road ambitions of China. Emphasis has evolved towards the deepening of commitment with African impassing governments as a means of bypassing the bottlenecks of the central government.

In this context, the direct negotiation of ENUGU with Chinese companies and the opening to the capital of foreign infrastructure is part of the broader geopolitical realignment. China, already strongly involved in national Nigeria railway infrastructure, could consider the initiative at the level of Enugu’s state as a model of reproduced infringing partnerships.

In the event of success, the project could serve as a model so that other offending governments stimulate their own rail infrastructure, in particular in the face of delays and funding constraints at the federal level.

Dr. Ozor reiterated the state’s commitment to see the project. “It is a decisive moment. It is not only a question of rail. It is a question of changing the way in which we move the goods, the way in which we exchange and how we think of our future as a region,” he said.

However, many believe that if this vision can be fully achieved depends not only on the determination of Enugu, but to know if other southeast and south-south states are ready to join a coordinated rail development plan before the closing of the opportunity window.