The Nigeria Railway Cooperation (NRC) is to link up with the Ministry of Finance to ensure payment of the $500million credit facility from the Chinese government for the construction of railway.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, gave the directive to NRC at the official launch of the E-ticketing platform on Thursday in Abuja.
According to him, the E-ticketing is in line with International practice as it will save time, promote transparency, reduce leakages and promote economic growth.
Amaechi said that the project is a product of over 3years of rigorous procurement process and due diligence involving the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), National Technology Development Agency (NTDA) and the approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
He explained that the project would last for 10years during which the investor (Secure ID) is expected to recoup their investment and then reverse the ownership back to NRC).
He said “The concessionaire is responsible for designing, development, financing, completion, deployment, financing, completion, deploying, testing and the maintenance of the e-ticketing platform for the period of concession for the cost of N900 million.”
The Managing Director of Secure ID Kofo Akinkugbe disclosed that within one week of test running the e-ticketing solution for the Abuja-Kaduna railway, they have successfully registered about 25000 tickets online and on mobile application.
She said the three e-ticketing platform services that are being launched include the web www.nrc.tps.ng, mobile applications (NRC Mobile app) and the computerised service at the stations.
Also, the Managing Director NRC, Fidelis Okhiria stated that the platform has been designed in a secure manner such that information provided cannot accessed by the third party.
He further explained that to prevent racketeering the electronic platform does not give room for bulk purchase of tickets and ticket bought and not used cannot be refunded.
