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ICRC boss says automated train ticketing will generate N16bn in 10years

The Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC),  Chidi Izuwah says sales of train service ticket via the automated ticketing platform could generate N16 billion in ten years.

Izuwah was quoted as saying this in a statement by Mr Israel Ibeleme, media aide to the Minister of Transportation,  Rotimi Amaechi, on Wednesday.

The ICRC boss made the disclosure at the presentation of the Full Business Case (FBC) Certificate for the concession of the E-ticketing system to the Minister.

According to him, the minister promised a couple of months ago that there is a solution to the chaos being witnessed at the train stations.

“And we are here today to present the FBC certificate for the ticketing solution for Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).

“Under the inspiration of the President Muhammadu Buhari, this transaction is for ten years and over those ten years, the financial model shows that NRC and the Federal Government will earn over N16 billion as revenue from the ticketing system.

“This will provide additional revenue for the government.  So basically, we have turned a problem into an opportunity.

“This is a PPP where the Private sector will invest money to develop, deploy and operate an integrated ticketing solution.

“So, Nigerians will be able to buy their own tickets the way it is done anywhere in the world.

“The NRC has gone through a procurement process in line with the ICRC ACT, a competitive process and a preferred bidder has been identified as SECURE ID,” he said.

The ICRC boss said an FBC was developed and due diligence was  carried out to verify the  technical,  financial and managerial competence of SECURE ID and her partners to execute the project.

He added that this would be followed by a presentation of the project to the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

Izuwah explained that after the approval by FEC, there would be signing of the concession agreement after which the project would be executed for the benefit of Nigerians.

He reiterated the benefits of the project among which was to ensure increased revenue to the economy.

Responding, the minister commended Izuwah for the timely presentation, adding that he would proceed to FEC immediately for the approval.

Amaechi, however, added that a holistic approach to solving the problems associated with sales of ticket would be the buying of more coaches and locomotives to meet the increasing passenger traffic.

According to the minister, the most important solution is the provison of more coaches and locomotives.

“This will go a long way in reducing the madness because if people can buy their tickets from their offices and homes, they will not be coming to the train station to cause that chaos we are seeing there in Idu.

“I just had a meeting with the president today and we agreed that we should approach the Chinese and buy more coaches.

“The moment we get more coaches, then we will completely eradicate the current madness going on in the different stations,” the Minister explained.

 

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