The Federal Government has concluded plans to flag off cargo delivery service by rail to the Kaduna Inland Dry Port.
The programme, scheduled to hold on today, May 7, 2019, at the facilities premises in Kakuri, Kaduna State, will have in attendance the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam, Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai and the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who will flag off the service.
In a statement, the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), promoters of dry ports across the country, said the council would also hold an interactive session with all relevant stakeholders immediately after the event.
In the statement signed by Mr. Tahir H. Idris, the Special Assistant to the Executive Secretary of NSC, NSC said the interactive session with the stakeholders had the theme: “Optimising the Kaduna Dry Port as Key to Nigeria’s Economic Diversification”.
Commenting, the Executive Secretary and CEO of NSC, Barr. Hassan Bello, said the delivery by rail to the dry port was a watershed to the facility. Barr. Bello said the rail facility would lead to the full optimisation of the Kaduna Inland Dry Port, adding that it would also drive down significantly the cost of transporting containers from Lagos to Kaduna.
He said, “So much cargo is coming to Kaduna now, but on trucks. It takes so much money to transport goods by trucks from Lagos to Kaduna. If it is by rail, the cost will drop by over 60 per cent.” He also said transporting containers by rail would eliminate the risks of diversion, goods tampering and reduce accidents by over 95 per cent, thus driving down the cost of insuring cargo to Kaduna as a point of entry.
Barr. Bello also noted that the reduced cost of transporting the goods would reduce the cost of goods which would further curb inflation. He said in addition to the above, because a lot of containers would be transported by rail, hundreds of trucks would be taken off the roads thus leading to longer roads life span and less accidents due to activities of truck drivers.
