The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has received the Full Business Case certificates (FBCs) for the concession of e-ticketing for the Lagos/Ibadan and Warri/Itakpe rail services.
The projects are expected to generate about N140 billion as well as create 3,000 jobs in 10 years.
Mr Manji Yarling, the Acting Head, Media and Publicity of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), said this in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja.
According to him, the acting Director General of the ICRC, Michael Ohiani, presented the FBCs on Wednesday to the minister.
Yarling said the projects would be domiciled in the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).
The statement quoted Ohiani as saying “the concession will generate over N140 billion for the Federal Government, and create over 3,000 direct and indirect employments within the 10 year-period of the concession”.
Ohiani said that some of the primary objectives of the concession was to enhance convenience of passengers by making it possible to book tickets from the comfort of their homes.
According to him, the concession is for 10 years.
“The next step is to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to deliver the project and the minister will take it to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval before going to the Ministry of Justice to clear it,” Ohiani said.
According to Ohiani, the overall scope of the project is to design, finance, build, operate and manage a secure ticketing solution system (hardware and software) for the passengers’ station on the Lagos – Ibadan and the Warri-Itakpe standard train service.
“While the Warri-Itakpe service is expected to generate about N50. 718 billion, the Lagos-Ibadan service is put at about N90.429 billion within the 10-year concession period,” he said.
The statement quoted the minister of transportation as “hailing the move to concession the service, as the Abuja-Kaduna rail e-ticketing concession was a testament that such concessions were profitable and generated more money for the government”.
The ICRC head of media said that prior to the concession, the Federal Government only generated about N189 million monthly from the Abuja – Kaduna service, whereas the figure rose to N400 million after the concession came into effect.
He said although the number of coaches on the service were increased, there were still clear evidence of increased revenue, as wastage had been eliminated.