L-R: Usman Abubakar, Chairman NRC Board and the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi during the inspection of the old Apapa rail station in Lagos Station

The Federal Government on Monday said it would demolish, rebuild and expand the old Apapa rail station to have a warehouse, hotel and a shopping mall to serve Apapa port and the seaport.

Amaechi disclosed this while inspecting the old Apapa rail station after the Steering Committee meeting in Lagos.

He said that the intended massive rail station would not basically focus on passengers but for freight purposes, where goods can be stored after clearance from the port.

“This is not the size of station we are looking for around here, what we are looking for is a bigger station and this is too small, since we have the whole property down to the road.

“The best thing to do is to terminate the lease and repossessed the land, demolish and expand the station; that way you can have warehouses, a better and bigger station that will accommodate shopping mall and hotel,’’ he said.

According to him, the Lagos-Ibadan rail project is experiencing huge progress, commending CCECC for the quality work done both in the track laying and civil works from Iju to Ibadan.

Amaechi noted that Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has a vast land, which needs to be reviewed and recovered for future development rather than being abandoned and leased.

The minister, however, spoke on the need to get NRC involved in the maintenance, marketing of freight and operations.

Speaking on the demolition exercise for the right of way, the minister said that NRC has already demolished from the beginning to the end of Lagos, stating that the challenges now are water and gas pipes.

Meanwhile, Mr. Fidet Okhiria, the Managing Director, NRC, said that the work was progressing.

He said that in any project, there would be obstacles but determination matters in resolving them.

The managing director said that the gas and water pipes would be removed and relocated in few weeks, saying that building a bigger station in Apapa port was feasible.