On Tuesday, De-Sedel consortium presented a proposal to the MInistry of Transportation represented by Minister Saidu Alkali and Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) suggesting a switch from the more expensive diesel to gas for railway locomotives, as detailed in a statement on the Ministry website.
The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Transportation is considering the transition of the Nigerian Railway Corporation’s (NRC) locomotives to the more economical and readily available LNG-CNG fuel to enhance sustainability and cost-efficiency.
The De-Sadel consortium offers to retrofit NRC’s locomotives with their LNG-CNG kits at no cost to the government, also committing to replace any locomotive in case of damage—a proposition Alkali found to be reasonable.
“It is the desire of our President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to provide an efficient, affordable, and sustainable transportation system for the people of this great country and I am sure this would go a long way in bringing down the cost of transportation,” Alkali stated.
Upon reviewing the proposal from the De-Sadel consortium, Alkali instructed the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Olufemi Oloruntola, to swiftly establish a technical committee to evaluate the potential for transitioning to LNG-CNG fuel.
This committee, consisting of seven mechanical engineers from the Transportation Ministry, the NRC, and the De-Sadel Consortium, was tasked with quickly assessing the proposal’s technical feasibility and devising an implementation plan, including preparing an NRC locomotive for testing.