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The Managing Director of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), Fidet Okhria yesterday said the track engineers from U.S industrial firm General Electric (GE) would arrive Nigeria next week.
While briefing newsmen in Lagos, he explained that the company would provide 200 new wagons and 10 locomotives to improve the operation of the narrow gauge lines.
According to the managing director, “GE will come and fix 10 out of the 25 locomotives owned by the Nigeria Railway Corporation that are not working. We hope that during the process of closing up at the final concessioning, all these would make the Nigeria Railways move better, more reliable and meet up with its responsibilities, that is why we have the interim phase. We are planning it so that we have a win-win situation for Nigerian people as well as the consortiums.”
In order not to be grounded, the managing director said that NRC has an arrangement where the consortium will come in with their track engineering experts and work with its men to fix some parts that are very bad for the track while another company will provide about 200 new wagons and 10 locomotives although additional 15 is being sought for to run the Eastern line.
The federal government through the NRC is also working on the individual agreements. This is because the consortium needs to be informed of where there is problem that needs to be solved.
‘’We can’t say from Kano to Lagos or Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, they are all bad. We know where it is very critical, that is why they will be working with us, where any time there is rainfall, we cannot go through because of wash-out, we have identified those areas, so also we have arranged with the GE’’.
In addition, the engineers and employees of NRC would also be working with concessioners during the period so that there will be transfer of knowledge.
Okhiria disclosed that, the management is working towards getting serious and committed people within its team that would be working with GE in the workshop while they are here.
As a precautionary measure, the NRC said it has what it called standby letter of credit that if the concession doesn’t work and may be the NRC have taken those assets that would come in, they are going to remain in Nigeria and they would have what to fall back on.
The managing director restated calls on petroleum marketers to consider movement of their products by rail, saying this remains the safest means of conveying the product which would also free the highways and minimize accidents by tankers.
He noted that the NRC is ready to allow the oil marketers provide their tank wagons even though the Corporation has also procured 40 tank wagons for the purpose. “Rail is the safest way to go,” the managing director concluded.
