The minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Bello, has assured residents of the FCT that the Abuja Light Rail would resume service before the end of his administration in May 2023.
The Minister gave the assurance when he featured at the 20th Edition of President Buhari Administration Scorecard Series, organised by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture in Abuja on Monday.
Bello explained that another important milestone achievement of President Buhari administration was the infrastructure development of the Abuja Light Rail, adding that that when they came in 2015, about 52 per cent of the projects were done and they pushed it to 100 per cent completion.
“Many of you will want to wonder why the Abuja Light Rail is not working, it is not working now because of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We had to stop the operation because as you know the light train system is a mass movement, so if you don’t have much sitting capacity, many people will stand up and when you stand up you face each other.
“So, it was very difficult to maintain a social distance but we are done with that. All the carriages are here, and by the grace of God before we leave, it will resume,” he said.
The minister further disclosed that about 12 stations have been completed and the roads for about five of the stations were under construction.
“These are works we do in the satellite towns because the structure of the FCT is that we have development in the urban area that is the Federal Capital City (FCC) as well as development in the satellite towns.
“But the standard we maintain for infrastructure for the Federal Capital City itself is the same that we maintain in the satellite towns, no difference whatsoever.
“Because the whole area is to encourage residents to stay in the satellite towns,” the Minister added.
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