The French Ambassador to Nigeria, Her excellency, Emmanuelle Blatmann has said that an estimated 100,000 commuters will use the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service daily in Kaduna metropolis when completed.
She made this known while speaking at the groundbreaking of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Kaduna.
The diplomat who jointly laid the foundation stone with the state Governor, Nasir El-rufai, described the project as an “ambitious” one and a 110m euro investment.
She expressed the hope that the Kaduna model will serve as a source of reference for other states in the country to emulate.
She also said that over 100,000 persons will benefit from the project and over 100,000 commuters will use the service daily.
The ambassador hoped that this Franco-Nigeria economic cooperation will strengthen further the relationship between Nigeria and France.
Earlier, Governor Nasir El-rufai said he has conceived a three-prong approach towards solving the transportation problems of the state for efficient human and vehicular movement, saying this could not be possible without the efforts of the government in securing financing for the projects.
”We began to explore the possibility of having a light rail stretching from Rigachikun to Maraban Rido and we made progress securing financing from Indian Xing Bank to the tune of 6 million dollars to execute that project.
”We engaged the famous French Transportation Consulting firm, Systra to do the feasibility studies as well as engineering design for the project,’’ he added.
El Rufai, however, lamented that the government has ”been unable to find an operator, someone that will operate the light rail when it is completed. And we think it is important to do that before we proceed.’’
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According to him, the second component of addressing the transportation problems is BRT, which the government initially had difficulty financing the project.
The governor, however, said that ”the French government kindly stepped in and through its development Agency, AFD offered us a line of credit, a concessionary line of credit to finance this project.’’
He also expressed gratitude to the ‘’government of France as well as the Ambassador and her team for being patient and pushing very hard to get this project to this stage. ‘’
He stated that in a couple of years, Kaduna will have a functioning Bus Rapid Transit that will be moving tens of thousands of people every day.
The governor said with this project, the government will be partnering with the smaller bus operators and Kaduna State Transport Authority to ‘’carry most of the traffic of people coming to work and back home every day in the city of Kaduna.’’
‘’We hope with the success of this project, we will extend this to Zaria Metropolitan area and Kafanchan Municipal area and gradually to all our major towns and cities,’’ he said.
El Rufai expressed gratitude to the French government for the support and to the Federal Ministry of Finance for guaranteeing the facility concerning the agreement as well as all the agencies that have worked to make it happen.
The governor particularly appreciated the Commissioner of Public Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Thomas Gyang, as well as the Director General of Kaduna State Transport Regulatory Authority, Aisha Saidu Bala, for all their efforts.
