Nasarawa grants N3.1bn concession for Karu, Lafia bus terminals

The Nasarawa State Government says it has granted a concession for the newly built N3.1 billion mega bus terminals in Karu and Lafia Local Government Areas, billed to be inaugurated later this month by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nasarawa Investment Development Agency, Ibrahim Abdullahi, disclosed this while speaking with our Correspondent on Sunday in Lafia.

He explained that the move to concession the bus terminals was in line with the vision of Governor Abdullahi Sule to industrialise the state through private sector participation.

He added that it became necessary to concession the terminus to a private company because it has been proven severally that the government was not a good manager of business enterprises.

He said, “The state government achieved this feat through the signing of a joint venture agreement with a private firm, Diamond Stripes. The company, which is a major player in the transport industry, will take control and manage the N1.9 billion Karu mega bus terminal as well as the N1.2 billion Lafia mega bus terminal.

“The company is expected to run the two facilities in collaboration with key stakeholders in the transport business, such as the National Union of Road Transport Owners and National Union of Road Transport Workers, among others”.

Abdullahi disclosed that the Karu mega bus terminal has the capacity for 900 vehicles while that of Lafia can contain 240 vehicles.

He urged officials of the NURTO and NURTW to collapse all other bus stops within Lafia and Karu into the two new facilities as soon as it is inaugurated by President Buhari.

“We came with a dream to do things differently, and I think this is one of those things. We have now completed the terminus and Mr President is coming soon to commission the projects.

“I want to urge the transport unions to continue to cooperate with the government so that together, we can take Nasarawa state to greater heights,” he added.