BusinessDay 25 Oct 2017

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30 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 Wednesday 25 October 2017 ExecutiveMotoring Kia offers year-end 10% sales discount MIKE OCHONMA As the end of 2018 market year gradually draws nearer with the ember months around the corner, Kia Motors Nigeria has rolled out special offer tagged ‘Ember Surprise Promo’ to give customers 10% discount on select models; Kia Rio 1.4-liter EX Manual and Automatic, Picanto, and Soul. The promo is headlined by Kia Motors Nigeria ambassador, an ace musical artist and Nigeria’s biggest musical exports to the world, Peter Okoye, one of the duos of PSquare. Over the years now, Kia has offered a model range that has been known as the most affordable yet trendy cars in the country. In line with its promise to provide affordable best in class cars to the market, the company has presented an exclusive offer to make great savings on its locally assembled Kia cars. The company, in a statement, disclosed the discounts it is offering on Picanto, Rio, and Soul is aimed at attracting customers in this season by giving them an opportunity to save big when they buy any of the models on promo. “In this offer,” the statement reads, “customers gets as high as N810,000 discount in this season. Segment-wise, Picanto boasts of N495,000 discount while Rio 1.4-liter EX Manual has N594,000 and 1.4-liter LX and 1.4-liter EX Automatic both have N765,000 and N810,000 discounts respectively. On its part, the Kia Rio is an extremely well-built car with innovative engineering, fun to drive, and its interior is suitably comforting. Emanating flair from every angle, the Rio’s low, wide stance and short overhangs give it a strong, youthful identity all of its own. Truck holding bays will check Apapa gridlock- FRSC Hyginus Omeje, the Sector Commander of FRSC has suggested that the setting up of holding bays will help in controlling the traffic gridlock in and around Apapa area of Lagos. He said the establishment of holding bays will accommodate trucks and articulated vehicles before loading. Omeje said that government was trying to address the issue by bringing private investors to put up the facilities for the benefit of the residents, adding that, this was a fundamental issue that was needed to allow free flow of traffic within the corridor. According to him, “I think the traffic congestion problem in Apapa will be solved permanently if holding bays can be established to take trucks coming in to load. He said that all owners of tank farms should provide facilities that would accommodate trucks coming into their facilities to load. “The stakeholders with owners of tank farms should begin to pay attention to having a holding bay that can contain some trucks before being called in to load,’’ he said. The private sectors should come up with the parks that some of the trucks can easily move in and wait for loading instead of parking along the streets in Apapa, thereby causing traffic. Through the process, the next truck to load in the tank farm will The Rio comes with high efficiency and performance, low emissions and reduced fuel consumption, not to mention safety specifications of the highest order. The 10% discount is applicable to 1.4-liter trim for both manual and automatic transmission.” During the promo period, enthusiasts of both the boxy but refined Soul and Kia Picanto will enjoy the 10% discount offer. Rooted in the funky urban DNA with its invigorated and refined sporty, SUV-like styling, the Soul presents a host of cutting-edge technologies and upgraded performance for an engaging ride. The Picanto petite yet headturning on-road presence makes the entry-level segment car distinctive with a flawless synchronization of refinement and functionality that will impress even the most discerning drivers. be called through electronic callup system as the method will help reduce the gridlock. According to Omeje, the FRSC has partnered the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to inspect all trucks coming into the port for business. We have had various meetings with the stakeholders, registered operators and NPA and we told them that it will not be business as usual if their trucks are not roadworthy. “Some of the articulated vehicles are overloaded, thereby causing traffic along the road. We want to ensure that our road transport safety standard schemes are implemented at the ports for every truck coming in to load‘’ he said. ‘Micking lubricants offers quality at low price’ Fleet and individual vehicle owners have been assure of good returns on their investment as Golden Stone Limited, West Africa’s sole distributor of Micking; a Korean number one premium engine oil, has launched its range of high index viscosity lubricants into the Nigeria market. The high quality varieties of the product were introduced to the motoring press during a Micking range of products awareness briefing with newsmen held at the company’s Lagos office recently. According to Offor, all Micking engine oil are synthetic. Andy Offor, Golden Stone Chief Executive Officer said he was out to not only create awareness about the motor oil, but to also educate motorists on the need to always use the right auto lubricants for their vehicles. “Many motorists in Nigeria,” he pointed out, “are suffering as a result of ignorance and many don’t know the API’s classification mark and service symbol of the engine they use. All they know is: this oil is good, cheap and has good packaging without checking the API ratings”. He explained that some engine oil are made for year 1984,1995 and 2000 model engine and motorist will use them for their 2005 and 2010 vehicles respectively without knowing that every car has a year that, it is manufactured. He stated that from the year of the vehicle’s, you can know the engine oil suitable for use. He advised vehicle owners to go through the rating and see the API of the oil whenever they want to buy engine oil, The best in the market right now is SN, the top range, SM, the second best and the next, SL. It goes down that way. Offor advised motorists to service their modern automobile engines with synthetic oil. “It protects the life of your engine against sludge and gives more mileage and cleans the engine leading to easy circulation of fuel. It makes the engine to consume less fuel and bring down the temperature of your engine. These and many more are the benefits of synthetic engine oil. That is the difference between synthetic and conventional mineral engine oil ’’. He explained. He stated: “We have 20 W 50 of Micking oil; 5W 40, 5W30,0 W 40, 0 W 30 and so on, all at SN and SM level. We have varieties of engine oil for all vehicles and our prices are highly competitive compared with the top range in the market.’’ Golden Stone deals on various synthetic and semi- synthetic Micking oil for both diesel and gasoline vehicles, generators and other oil related engines. To avoid adulteration, Golden Stone sells its Micking engine oil to only workshops and end users, because, according to Offor, the company “won’t like to have issues with engine and that is why we don’t sell Micking in an open market. We sell to companies and end users’’. MOTORING ALERT Do you know that drunk drivers are at the risk of making wrong judgment on-wheels. Do you also know that it is dangerous to make phone calls or send text messages while driving. Life has no duplicate
Wednesday 25 October 2017 31 BUSINESS DAY RailBusiness C002D5556 ‘NRC contracts process followed 2004 procurement Act’ … 10 new standard gauge rail lines underway MIKE OCHONMA Fidet Okhiria, managing director and chief executive of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has declared that the bidding process followed the rules of engagement and was in line with the Procurement Act of 2004. Only recently, the government parastatal disclosed that 1,000 companies bid for 17 contracts of projects for the 2017 capital projects of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, the Managing Director of the NRC, Fidet Okhiria said. He said the open bidding process was in line with the Procurement Act of 2004, adding that it would be transparent and promised to be fair to all bidding firms. He outlined some of the projects open for bids to include the procurement of tools, equipment and materials for emergency repairs and maintenance of tracks; renovation/upgrade of railway Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University is conducting tests to see whether slab track technology used around the world is suitable for the construction of high-speed railways in the and the university said it believes the testing is the first of its kind in the UK. Eight sections of slab track supplied by German manufacturer Max Bögl are being used to conduct trials at the university’s Geo-pavement and Railway Accelerated Fatigue Testing (GRAFT) facility – one of only two such test facilities in the UK. The GRAFT facility can mimic the speed and dynamic loads of a high-speed train and simulate wear and tear equivalent to years of regular passenger service. The research will focus on developing two “novel embankment replacement sysstations and other buildings together with associated facilities nationwide. Others include procurement of locomotives, coaches, wagons, railway inspection vehicles and cranes (narrow gauge and/or standard gauge); procurement/ rehabilitation and installation of equipment for mechanical/electrical, security, printing, operations, civil and ICT facilities; and generation of alternative revenue for the corporation, insurance services, among others. The managing director who spoke through Niyi Ali, NRC Director of Operations at the formal opening of bids for the projects in Lagos witnessed by representatives of firms bidding for the contracts, said the open bidding was done in order to get the best firms to execute the projects, which were meant for the 2017 fiscal year. In another development, the Federal Government is carrying out feasibility studies on the construction of 10 new standard gauge rail lines across the countems”, which could potentially cut the cost of construction and improve track performance. Heriot-Watt University, which is working alongside the University of Leeds, has received funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to conduct the Lowering the Costs of Railways using Preformed try. The standard gauge rail lines will cover a travelling distance of over 3,421 kilometres when completed. This was contained in the NRC latest Rail Development Plan report from the Federal Ministry of Transportation. It, however, stated that paucity of funds was a key challenge to the projects, adding that the government required more funds to complete the rehabilitation of the Western and Eastern lines, carry out addendum for sidings and loop lines on the Western line, procure and rehabilitate locomotives and rolling stock, as well as for the procurement of maintenance equipment. It said more funds were needed for complete modernisation projects, as well as for the rehabilitation and construction of links to the sea, rivers and airports. The NRC outlined the 10 new standard gauge rail routes where feasibility studies were being carried out as the 300km Lagos-Sagamu-Ijebu Ode-Ore-Benin City East-West rail line; Lagos-Ibadan- Systems (LOCORPS) project. Other project partners include Network Rail, Laing O’Rourke, Atkins and Tarmac. Omar Laghrouche, a professor and director of the Institute for Infrastructure and Environment at Heriot-Watt University, said: “We’re looking at differential track settlement, which is a serious problem in modern-day Osogbo-Baro-Abuja high speed 615km line; Ajaokuta (Eganyin)- Obajana-Jakura-Baro-Siraj-Abuja rail, with additional line from Ajaokuta to Otukpo (533km); and the 520km Zaria-Kaura Namoda- Sokoto-Ileila-Birnin Koni in Niger Republic. Others are the Benin-Agbor- Onitsha-Nnewi-Owerri-Aba rail, with additional line from Onitsha-Enugu-Abakaliki, 500km; Eganyin (near Ajaokuta)- Lokoja-Abaji-Abuja, 280km; Benin-Sapele-Warri-Yenagoa- Port Harcourt-Aba-Uyo-Calabar- Akampa-Ikom-Obudu Cattle Ranch coastal rail line, 673km; Port Harcourt-Aba-Umuahia- Enugu-Makurdi-Lafia-Kuru- Bauchi-Gombe-Biu-Maiduguri line; Ikom-Obudu-Ogoja-Katsina Ala-Wukari-Jalingo-Yola-Maiduguri line; and the Kano-Nguru- Gusau-Damaturu-Maiduguri- Gamborugala rail line. It further stated that the various rail lines would pass through Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Benin, Abuja, Kogi, Onitsha and Sokoto, among other states. UK Varsity conducts test on high-speed slab track testing railway engineering, with considerable cost and time implications. He said settlement of substructure is the main cause of track deterioration, and this research will identify how we can mitigate settlement and ensure future high-speed rail projects in the UK are appropriately engineered and constructed. Transnet targets Nigeria among Africa’s cash-cow …Sets R100bn revenue target for 2020 Nigeria is listed among the most advanced projects in rail venture where Transnet freight logistics group of South Africa has set a target of becoming a R100-billion company by March 2020. Meanwhile, 24 African projects had already been identified, some of which could be realised in the not-too-distant future. The most advanced projects included rail ventures in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Nigeria and a port operations contract in Kenya. Transnet’s business interests in the rest of Africa expected to contribute materially to the increase in revenues. In 2016/17, Transnet reported a 5.3% rise in revenue to R65.5- billion. Addressing stakeholders at the ‘Transnet Indaba’, which is taking place in Gauteng this week, CEO Siyabonga Gama said Africa’s infrastructure bottlenecks, which were undermining intra-regional trade, represented a significant business opportunity for the South African group. Gama reported that the group was also aiming to increase rail and port equipment sales to third parties to R20- billion by 2020, while liberating General Electric (GE) Transportation has appointed a new president and CEO. Rafael Santana who formerly held the same role at the company’s Latin American transport division will lead the team from November 1. He succeeds Jamie Miller, who will become chief financial officer of GE on the same date the new CEO will resume duties. Santana has risen through the ranks during his 17-year career with GE having previously held leadership roles within GE Oil & Gas Power too. Before joining the American firm he worked for ExxonMobil and British American Tobacco. In his current role heading the Latin American region, Santana helped to make it one of the company’s largest and fastestgrowing, according to GE. GE chair and CEO John Flannery said: “Rafael has deep roots R15-billion worth of revenue from its extensive property holdings. Chief customer officer Mike Fanucchi said that the group also had specific projects in place to raise freight-related revenue to R70-billion by 2020, from R46-billion currently. Fanucchi also expected that pipeline-related revenues could grow to sales to R10-billion in the coming three years through the integration of gas into a network that has hitherto handled only liquid fuels. Acting COO Raisibi Lepule reported that the group’s international expansion would take place under the Transnet International Holdings banner. The entity would focus initially on doubling cross-border volumes to 10-million tons by 2023 and growing trans-shipment volumes to R498-million a year in 2023 from R267-million currently. “We are talking about an entity that will grow to a R100- billion business by March 2020 if we do all of the things that we have put in place to create this new Transnet – this Transnet that is responsive to customer needs, this Transnet that is agile, this Transnet that is digital,” Gama concluded. GE Transportation promotes Rafael Santana to CEO in GE Transportation, having spent eight years in a variety of commercial and product management roles, as well as leading the Transportation team in Latin America. “His experience helping teams navigate through this tough market, combined with his deep global, operational, services and industrial experience make him the perfect fit for this role. I look forward to working with him closely.” He concluded.
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