West Africa to Welcome Its First Chinese Standard Wagon Plant

A foundation ceremony was held recently to announce the start of the Kajola wagon assembly plant along the Lagos-Ibadan railway. It is the country's first railway wagon factory and the first made to Chinese standards in West Africa.

A wagon assembly plant was proposed by the Federal Ministry of Transportation of Nigeria to develop its railway industry.

Contracted by the Nigerian company of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC), the plant will be designed, built and managed to Chinese standards.

It is expected to manufacture 500 Chinese standard gauge freight cars per year and provide production and assembly services of various kinds pertaining to vehicles like open wagons, container flat cars, tankers and box wagons.

In addition, the main components of the new vehicles together with raw and auxiliary materials will be produced in China and then transported to Nigeria. Processing such as welding, assembly, paint spraying and trial operation will be undertaken in the factory.

A beginning to Nigeria's railway freight wagon equipment manufacturing industry, the factory will greatly improve the comprehensive competitiveness of Nigerian railways, stimulate local employment and drive regional economic development.

It is also a chance to promote Chinese railway equipment production skills and devices in West Africa.

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)