Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has disclosed that the Chinese government is building the $50 million University of Transportation in Daura, Katsina State for free.
Speaking during his maiden inspection tour of the ongoing project in Daura, the Minister also disclosed that he Chinese government will build a primary and secondary school which will cater for the educational needs of children whose families work there.
Amaechi said the project construction would commence in September and would be completed by the end of next year. The Minister who made a clarification on the project, said it is not part of the railway contract but was donated to the federal government by the Chinese government free of charge.
He said;
“Construction work will commence in September. What they are doing now is clearing, they have promised to build a primary school and a secondary school in the university. This university is a donation by the Chinese government through CCECC. The Technique, Engineering, and Marketing (TEAM) has also accepted the consultancy job.
“We are here on the assignment of the ministry of transportation. The President wanted to know the status of the university that he performed its groundbreaking, so we decided to come today with CCECC and TEAM. I also want to thank you for providing land to construct the university.
“Having done that, let me also thank the CCECC for accepting to construct the university free of charge. It is not part of the railway contract, we spoke with CCECC and told them to train Nigerians who will take over from them in their technology and they agreed.
“All Nigerians from all parts of the country are entitled to come here for studies, In the same way as lecturing. Those who will teach are not only going to come from Daura, they will come from all parts of the country.
“So, we agreed with CCECC to build the university , and we chose Daura. We believe that the school would be completed next year hopefully, and then we can start studies.”