FG to inaugurate rail cargo to Kaduna dry port

The Federal Government has announced its readiness to inaugurate cargo train service to the Kaduna Inland Dry Port (KIDP).

The service which is expected to reduce the cost of transporting containers from Lagos to Kaduna was announced by the Director, Special Duties of Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Tahir Idris, in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

According to Idris, the inauguration of the rail service will take place on Tuesday, May 7, 2019 at the KIDP premises in Kakuri, Kaduna State.

The Executive Secretary of NSC, Hassan Bello, said that the Council would also hold an interactive session with relevant stakeholders on the theme “Optimising the Kaduna dry port as key to Nigeria economic diversification” immediately after the event, adding that connecting the dry port by rail “is a watershed to the facility”.

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According to him, the rail facility would enable full optimization of the KIDP, to reduce the cost involved in moving containers from Lagos to Kaduna.

“So much cargo is coming to Kaduna 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 said.

He also maintained that the development will reduce the risk involved in transporting containers adding that rail transportation of such goods is safer compared to the road.

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