LAGOS, March 27 -- The Nigerian government has concluded plans to borrow 6.1 billion U.S. dollars from Chinese Exim Bank to complete all rail projects in the country by 2019.

Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi made the remarks during the Ministry's 2017 budget proposal defense at the National Assembly in Abuja, the nation's capital city on Monday.

Amaechi said the government had targeted the construction of Lagos - Ibadan, Kano - Kaduna rail projects and the first phase of the Coastal Rail (Lagos-Calabar) in the 2017 budget.

The minister told lawmakers that President Muhammadu Buhari insisted that all rail projects in the country that had been awarded by previous administrations must be resuscitated and completed on or before December 2019.

Amaechi said rail projects needed to be completed due to the economic importance of these projects and the benefits to be derived by the generality of Nigerians.