BY Udo Ibuot

MARKURDI—THE Federal Government has been urged to commence work on the East-West Rail line, Coastal Line and other corridors, as proposed in the National Transport Master Plan based on sustainable phased programmes.

Equally, the three tiers of government should make deliberate efforts to intensify and diversify efforts aimed at adopting the Public Private Partnership, PPP, programmes in intermodal projects financing.

The National Council on Transport, NCT, made these resolutions in a communique at the end of its 12th council meeting held in Makurdi, Benue State, November 23 to December 3, 2012.

The communique which was signed by the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, Benue State Commissioner for Works and Transport, Mr. Ashaver Benjamin and Anambra State Commissioner for Transport, Dr. Chike Ohamobi, also urged the Federal Ministry of Transport to expedite action on the dredging of the Lower River Benue, development of the Makurdi River Port and other ports and jetties along the lower River Niger and River Benue.

It said the Federal Ministry of Transport should encourage inter ministerial and inter agency collaboration to ensure effective utilisation of the nation’s water resources, while the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology, NITT, should be empowered to establish a national transportation database for planning in liaison with the Office of Bureau of Statistics.

The communique stated that inter agency collaborations should be promoted among federal and states transport agencies such as FRSC, VIO and state transport regulatory agencies, with a view to improving effectiveness and reduction of potential areas of conflict.

It urged the federal and state government agencies to rid the public highways of rickety public and private vehicles to avoid accidents, environmental hazards; while the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC, should ensure that all its level crossings are properly secured, well maintained and do not pose any hazard to other road users.

In view of the recent incidents of flooding in several parts of the country and their impact on transportation and its infrastructure, the council called for the convocation of an all stakeholders summit to address the problems of flooding holistically with a view to finding appropriate solutions.