The Rivers State Government has assured that the Phase 1A of
the monorail project from Sharks Park to UTC Junction would be completed by
December 2013.

The State Commissioner for Transport, Hon George Tolofari
stated this while conducting Journalists round the ware-house where equipment
for the project were kept at Trans-Amadi Layout, Port Harcourt, recently.

Tolofari said with the arrival of the equipment for the
Phase 1A of the project, he is optimistic that it would be delivered by next
year.

He declared, “by the grace of God, Phase 1A of the Rivers
State monorail project would be completed in December 2013”. He appealed to the
citizens to be patient with the government.

The Transport Commissioner noted that the non-availability
of space at the monorail ware-house was responsible for the keeping of the
equipment of the project at Onne Port. He assured that from this month, all the
other equipment would be conveyed from the warehouse to the state to meet the
target.

According to him, the Rivers State monorail project is a
social responsibility that the administration of Governor Chibuike Rotimi
Amaechi is fulfilling to the people of the state.

He said, that as soon as all the equipment for the project
were conveyed to the station at Sharks Park, the tracks would be installed for
the train to start operation.

The Phase 1A of the Rivers monorail project will be
operational with one train on a single track system, with six coaches and one
exclusively for wheel chair passengers, the state commissioner had earlier
said.

The Tide correspondent gathered that distance of Phase 1A
from Sharks Park to UTC Bus Stop is 2.6km, while the train will travel within a
time of six minutes from the Sharks Park to UTC bus stop, with a capacity of
170 passengers.

Our correspondent also learnt that for Phase 1A, there are
three stations and one depot from UTC bus stop, Sharks Park and Azikiwe Road
with a guide-way track construction.

It would be recalled that the state Ministry of Transport
had during the public forum held in Port Harcourt, in June this year stated
that its reform project would help build a sustainable public mass
transportation system that would befit the status of Rivers State and Port
Harcourt as a business hub in the oil-rich, South-South region of Nigeria.