[LINK] "Nigeria's Buhari to Ask China's Xi to Restart Stalled Rail Work"

[rfmcdonald]

Bloomberg's Chris Key reports on Nigerian official interest in getting Chinese investment on rail.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week to discuss restarting stalled rail projects in Africa’s biggest oil producer under new agreements that would see China provide the bulk of at least $20.3 billion in funding.

Buhari is scheduled to hold talks with Xi on the sidelines of the Dec. 4-5 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Johannesburg to follow up on previous discussions the two had over Nigeria’s dilapidated rail network, Garba Shehu, a Nigerian presidential spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday.

“Of particular interest is the coastal railway project stretching for 1,402 kilometers (871 miles) linking Lagos in the west with Calabar in the east; a project that is expected to be financed with a $12 billion Chinese loan and which will create about 200,000 jobs,” Shehu said. “Another rail project that will be up for renegotiation is the $8.3 billion Lagos-Kano standard gauge modernization project, of which only a segment, Kaduna-Abuja has reached completion stage.”