Nigeria Expecting More Coaches-Engr. Fidet Okhiria
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Engr. Fidet Okhiria was live on AsphericTV for an interview on our maiden weekly program called “STATE OF THE NATION”,
while highlighting the achievements and plans of the railway corporation, he said that the corporation is planning to provide a train system in the entire country.
Engr. Fidet further disclosed that “To do the standard gauge seems very difficult to source. But in order to bring other Asics to life, the Minister is thinking of increasing the poundage as well as straightening the curves and reducing the gradient. That’s all the Minister is talking about. He added.
Engr. Fidet also said that: “The process of procuring the project is ongoing as the corporation submitted some documents to BPP for their review and approval so they can move to the next stage for the narrow gauge from Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri and is expected to link the Bonni Deep Sea Port, the Industrial Park in Port-Harcourt, Damaturu, and some state capitals.
Going further he touched on the e-ticketing and when asked what his agency the Nigerian Railway Corporation is doing on e-ticketing he said that:
“The e-ticketing has gone through due process and they have been approved by FEC, and the condition was that the NIDA should look at it and give approval. I am happy to announce that we have secured the approval and we are discussing with our partner so that we can have a financial closure of the agreement and we hope that within the next two to three months they’ll be able to deploy because most of this things will be coming from Europe. This PPP arrangement is to cover from Idu in Abuja to Rigasa in Kaduna, so we are working seriously and we hope that before the end of next week we should be able to finish the financial closure. He added.
He also said that: “By the time we were discussing we barely have 5 coaches, now we have more coaches and we are promising Nigerians that we are going to have an hourly train in Kaduna and Abuja by the time we are fully set, when the coaches are completely moved from Lagos to Abuja. As of yesterday, we have seven, and two locomotives have arrived though we are awaiting three more of those coaches and another set of DMU comprising of eight coaches and two motor cabs we hope that everything will be okay and we will make Nigerians happy. He said.
Ayooluwa Joshua