The Rivers Monorail Project when completed would reduce traffic and travel time in the ever busy and traffic congested City of Port Harcourt.
The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Transport Mr. Nuka Nwikpasi stated this during a media tour of the stations and deport of the Rivers Monorail.
He noted that Public transportation all over the world is a social service that is often subsidized by Government, stressing that the Social impact of the project would be felt by all.
On his part the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Information and Communications, Mr. Samuel Woka said that since the model of the Rivers Monorail is the first in Africa it would serve both as a tourist attraction and also a means of transportation.
He assured Rivers people that the reputation of the company building the Monorail gives confidence that the funds for the project is prudently managed and the extent of work confirms that project would be completed.
Earlier, the rail engineer of Arcus Gibbs, the company building the Monorail, Mr. Calvyn Scholtz disclosed that the 2.6km of the Rivers Monorail would begin a non commercial operation by the middle of March this year and it would run from UTC to the deport whereas the commercial operation would begin in October, this year.
Mr. Calvyn stated that one train would begin operation in the first phase while additional five trains would be added after the completion of the phase 1B which runs from UTC junction to waterlines.
The engineer said that the capacity of the train is 172 passengers with 44 seaters while the rest would be standing and the train would run for 72km per hour.
Mr. Scholtz noted that the train would be powered by an independent power supply with 1, 600 KVA generator on standby in the event of power failure.
