Sustainability Appraisal of Chinese Railway Projects In Nigeria: Afoot

It is no news that Nigeria's infrastructure challenge is enormous. In the global ranking, Nigeria ranked low in quantity and quality of its infrastructural provision which has a great impact on the ease of business transaction. Low investments in transportation have brought about the current infrastructural deficit. Recently, the Nigerian government has made effort to address at least to some extent the infrastructural deficit through Public-Private Partnership, but this has not yielded the desired result. Moreover, the sustainability issues relating to railway projects such as, emissions, noise pollution, ecosystem, and other environmental issues calls for urgent attention. Hence, this necessitated consideration on sustainability appraisal for the Chinese rail project in Nigeria. This study reviews sustainability of railway projects built by the Chinese firm in Nigeria with particular emphasis on the environmental and social impact of these projects. The study further identified issues and challenges in project implementation with a particular focus on civil dialogue and community engagements. A detailed literature search was conducted on railway projects and infrastructure by systematically reviewing selected published articles.The analysis of the selected articles identified sustainability issues and potential for improvement of Chinese railway projects and how they contribute to or inhibit competitiveness in the Nigerian railway market. From the literature searched, some of the projects constructed by Chinese firm revealed that there is economic and social impact of railway projects delivered by the Chinese firm in terms of capacity development and knowledge transfer potentiality. For instance, in the just concluded Lagos-Ibadan railway projects, the study gathered that the project brought about 5000 jobs and local staff were trained by the Chinese company, this will boost man power and local content capability. Also, it will significantly improve Nigeria's infrastructure and boost its economic development. The study suggests that Nigerian government should ensure and provide an enabling environment that is conducive for investment on the continent. Peace, improved security, and decent governance are the best conditions for sustainable transportation growth.