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Kano gov announces French agency’s plan for water projects

The Kano state governor, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, has said that the French Development Agency ( AFD) will execute water projects that will enhance drinkable water for the populace

This was just as the beneficiary states of the National Urban Water Sector Reform Projects funded by the French Development Agency (AFD) are meeting in Kano for project coordination and review.

Making this known on Wednesday, in his address at the opening session, Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf, who was represented by the Commissioner for Water Resources, Ali Haruna Makoda, expressed the need for the project considering the high level of population growth in the state.

However, for the annual 2-day workshop, Kano State is hosting Plateau, Ondo, Enugu, and Ogun states, beginning on Wednesday, in which the AFD project will be scrutinised for better implementation.

Makoda disclosed, “We are here for project review. This is an annual event organised by the federal ministry of water resources and sanitation board in Abuja.

“As you can see, we have five participating states that including Ogun, whose project has already been completed. However, it had been in the project for so many years, but theirs has been completed.

According to him, presently the participating states are four, which include Kano, Plateau, Ondo, and Enugu.

“This is a national urban water reform project. It is a collaboration between the states involved and the French Development Agency (AFD).

“For Kano, this project will cost more than N177.4 billion (€64 million), and it involves the establishment and creation of new waterworks at Tamburawa and also the articulation of the main city of the Greater Kano.

“Considering the demography of Kano as the only saving grass in the north, apart from rural-urban migration, you see people trooping to Kano from all the states of the north. Even people from some of the West African countries are trooping to Kano. So the population is so fast-growing that you have to plan for the future.

“We don’t have problems as far as funding is concerned. The Kano state government has signed this credit facility with AFD through the Federal Ministry of Finance, which is the guarantor of the entire project.

He, however, disclosed that “the only problem we faced is with regards to the previous issues we encountered, which is the COVID-19 issue and is a general and worldwide problem.”.

“Apart from this, there were some consultants that also gave us problems within the project, but thank God we have already overcome all these issues.

“As a passionate governor and an engineer also, the only thing one can do in this regard is to provide portable drinking water to the people of Kano State, and that is the main focus,” he stated.

Earlier, the managing director of the Kano State Water Board, Garba Ahmad Bichi, highlighted the history of water projects in Kano and how 455 MLD facilities supplying the greater Kano are achieved.

He also expressed the need for the intervention of the AFD to assist through loan facilities for the construction of an additional water intake station of 250 MLD capacity.

Alhaji Bichi then commended the state governor, Alhaji Yusuf, for all necessary steps been taken to pave the way for the teeming masses to get good drinkable water

He also hinted that the state government always makes sure that all logistics needed are provided to the Ministry of Water Resources so that the citizenry would get potable water without being put under unnecessary stress.

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