Construction work has begun on the Kano-Maradi Rail Line, a significant project undertaken by Mota-Engil Nigeria Ltd, a leading Portuguese construction company. The contractor recently received a delivery of equipment worth $200 million from China, which includes a wide range of machinery such as loaders, excavators, concrete pumps, cranes, trucks, and more. The equipment was discharged at the Ports and Cargo Handling Services terminal in Lagos. The company noted that the strategic importance of this investment is not only for Nigeria's railway infrastructure development but also for the entire West Africa region. The company has already employed three hundred Nigerian staff members and fifty experts, with plans to increase the workforce to approximately one thousand as the project progresses.
The construction of the Kano-Maradi Rail Line is part of a three-year, $1.959 billion endeavour, expected to be completed in 2025, comprising one hundred bridges and three base camps along the line from Kano to Maradi in Niger Republic. In Nigeria, the company is also involved in the construction of the Sagamu-Benin Expressway, the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, and has expressed interest in becoming the reserved bidder for the 4th Mainland Bridge in Lagos.