Kaduna’s smart infrastructure plan

Kaduna State knows that infrastructure development is a way to inject money into the economy and lay the foundation for long-term growth.

This is why it has committed N108 billion of its 2016 budget to capital expenditure and will further commit N130 billion in 2017.

Already, 421 contracts have been awarded for renovation of public primary and secondary schools in the state. These renovations are complete with the provision of solar-powered boreholes and cubicle toilet blocks.

The aim is to expand class size to cater for school enrolment rates which have soared from about one million pupils in 2015 to 1.8 million currently.

In the same vein, the Dangote Group, alongside the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has provided funding support to the Kaduna State government for the renovation and equipping of primary health care centre in each of the 255 wards in the state.

The more attractive option for politicians is to initiate new projects at the expense of uncompleted ones inherited from previous administrations. The tragedy this poses is that the likelihood of leaving behind even more uncompleted projects becomes high.

Luckily, Kaduna’s present administration is not thinking this way. Early in his administration, Governor Nasir el-Rufai commissioned Bain and Company to review all inherited and ongoing capital projects in the state with a view to developing a prioritization mechanism for future ventures.

Among its truly shocking findings was the fact that N87.5 billion existed in outstanding contractual obligations.

Examining the outstanding obligations further also revealed that most projects were awarded for the protection of political interests as opposed to the public interest.

In the years leading up to 2015, much of the state was without potable water. This will change in early 2018 when the N50 billion Zaria water facility is completed. Thanks to funders like the African Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank, the Zaria water project will supply 150 million litres of water daily and provide water coverage for 2.2 million people across seven local government areas. Even for agriculture, the sludge generated from the water treatment process will be used as fertiliser.

With the support of the Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (NIAF) and funds from the UK Department of International Development (DFID), a transport policy was launched in 2016.

The policy will ensure accessible and reliable public transport service that meets the mobility needs of the state.

Bukola Ogunyemi

Lagos.