The federal authorities has threatened to mete out a stiff sanction to the China Civil Engineering and Development Firm (CCECC) over the agency’s alleged failure to offer 85 per cent counterpart fund for the the rail venture in some elements of the nation.

The Minister of Transportation, Muazu Sambo, decried the sluggish tempo of labor within the Kanu-Kaduna and Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail strains.

Sambo gave the warning on Saturday whereas briefing journalists in Lagos on the finish of a tour of the Lekki Deep Seaport to determine the extent of labor performed up to now.

Sambo, who frowned on the angle of the Chinese language agency, mentioned two years after the settlement was signed, CCECC had not supplied any of its 85 per cent counterpart fund for the rail venture.

Based on him, the settlement stipulates that CCECC is to offer 85 per cent of the venture value whereas the federal authorities gives the remaining 15 per cent.

He mentioned, “I’ve given them until October 2022 to satisfy their very own a part of the settlement or stiff sanction could be meted out to them.

“How may it’s mentioned that two years after the settlement was signed, CCECC is but to offer a greenback?”

Recall that former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, had in March accused the agency of taking part in politics with the Kanu-Kaduna rail venture, urging the contractor to offer funding for the venture.

Amaechi had mentioned, “The tempo is extraordinarily sluggish, the equipments are speculated to be 2,000 plus, however what they (CCECC) have introduced up to now is 541, they declare that 300 and one thing tools are in Kaduna. I’ll ship folks to verify. Even for those who add that every one collectively, you should have 800 and one thing tools instead of 2,000 tools that they’re speculated to deliver. Which means one thing is improper someplace.

“I do know they (CCECC) declare that there is no such thing as a cash, that we’ve not funded them. However what of their accountability within the contract that they are going to search for the cash?

“CCECC has not introduced cash, the Chinese language are now not giving us cash for greater than three to 4 years now. So CCECC cannot afford to delay of their accountability to search for cash for the venture. That’s what the Chinese language should do.”