The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) at the weekend presented the Outline Business Case (OBC) certificate for the proposed electronic ticketing solution for the Lagos-Ibadan and Warri-Itakpe Train services to the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).
The OBC certificate, otherwise known as the Certificate of Compliance, implies that the planned Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project for the e-ticketing solution is bankable and commercially viable.
Acting Director-General, ICRC, Mike Ohiani, presented the certificate to the NRC Managing Director, Fidet Okhiria, at a ceremony in Lagos with other NRC management staff in attendance.
The NRC had earlier, through an advertisement invited prospective bidders for the design, build, operate and transfer of secure e-ticketing solution for the Lagos-Ibadan and Warri-Itakpe standard gauge services.
NRC Managing Director said the introduction of e-ticketing earlier on the Abuja-Kaduna Train Service had improved revenue generation.
He said: “Sometimes ago we introduced the e-ticketing on Abuja-Kaduna train service and the benefits of it have been an eye-opener and apart from the benefits to the users, NRC and the government are also reaping from the e-ticketing.’’
I am proud to say that since the introduction of the e-ticketing, the revenue has gone up drastically either by encouraging users to use the train or if there were leakages, at least, it has been blocked somehow and the fear of ticket racketeering has also reduced by introducing the e-ticketing and its technology. It cannot be perfect in one day, we are also reviewing it on daily basis, on weekly basis, on monthly basis and trying to improve on what we are doing.
“That exercise covers Abuja-Kaduna Train Operation. Now that we have introduced new trains and we have introduced new routes, we believe we should do them separately so that we don’t put our eggs in one basket.
“As a result of that we approached the ICRC with a business case, it went through several reviews and we are happy that they are officially presenting the Outline Business Case certificate that enables us to advertise the project of the secured ticketing solution.
“That would bring smiles to the people using Lagos-Ibadan and Itakpe-Warri train services because at the comfort of their homes, they can plan their programmes, buy their tickets and they don’t need to come to the stations to buy ticket and it will reduce the pressure on our staff in trying to control the crowd at a particular time.”
The Acting DG of ICRC stated that there was the need to shore up the revenue of the Federal Government to justify the infrastructural revolution of President Muhammadu Buhari whom he described as an Infrastructure President.
He said: “ICRC is the agency of the Federal Government set up midwife and drive all PPP projects in the country adding that the agency provided regulatory oversight.
“NRC approached us with the e-ticketing in respect of the Lagos-Ibadan and Warri-Itakpe standard gauge services for the e-ticketing. We want to commend the efforts of the Ministry of Transportation and the Corporation for the good job they are doing.
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