The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said that the Abuja-Kaduna train service generates a minimum of N300 million for the country every month.
This disclosure was made by Amaechi while appearing as a guest on a Channels Television programme, Hard Copy, saying that his ministry has started contributing to the nation’s economic growth.
What the Minister of Transportation is saying
Amaechi in his statement said, “We make N300million per month from the Abuja-Kaduna train. Currently, we are running Lagos-Ibadan from the money we are making from Abuja-Kaduna rail service, at the end of the day, we pay back over N100million to the federal government.”
Amaechi who was a former governor of Rivers State further disclosed that the government hopes to increase the revenue from the Lagos-Ibadan rail line with its plans to have about 16 trains running on that axis.
On the cost implications for the developments experienced on the rail system, the minister said the country is capable of meeting its loan requirements.
Earlier in the year, Amaechi had stated that the Federal Government has borrowed about $2.5billion for the construction of a railway linking Lagos to Ibadan.
Speaking further about the debts accrued in the course of developing the rail transport system, the minister expressed confidence that Nigeria has the capacity to pay back adding that the nation has commenced repayments.
He disclosed that more developments are coming to the rail sector which will further boost the revenue generated by the ministry and as such aid the government in settling its debts.
Amaechi also noted that the Kano-Maradi line and Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail projects are expected to take-off by the end of January.
What you should know
Recall that earlier in July, NRC revealed that the corporation generates an average of N327 million every month from its different routes.
The improved revenue is a result of the take-off of operations of some railway projects embarked upon by the federal government.
The NRC said that the Abuja-Kaduna route generated an average of N265 million monthly, Lagos-Ibadan, N17 million monthly, while Warri-Itakpe generated N45 million.
