Zaria Water Project: We inherited over N3B arrears, to be completed by 2017 – El-Rufai

0
477

By; Abdull-Azeez Ahmed Kadir, Zaria.
Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai has said his administration inherited over N3 billion arrears of payment for Zaria regional water works expansion project and assured of the completion of the prolonged project in less than two years.
El-Rufai disclosed this after inspecting progress of work at the various projects at Hanwa and Kakiyayi sites of the project in Zaria.
The Governor however revealed that his administration has entered into an agreement with the contractors for monthly payment of the arrears and it has been up to date thus far.
“We went into agreement with the contractor to continue monthly payment until we clear the arrears, I am happy that the arrears agreement has been up-to-date.”
He stressed that the initial problem they encountered was difficulty in accessing foreign exchange to import key equipments but with the support of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the administration had secured the necessary foreign exchange, established letter of credit for importation of vital goods and components required for the water project which are on their way to Nigeria.
El-Rufai assured that the water treatment plant and other associate works would be completed in 2016, while that of Hanwa in 2017. All the works including storage tanks, booster stations, water reservoirs, sub-stations, reticulation and others are expected to be completed in less than two years he stressed.
“We need the pipe work, water storage tank for people of Zaria, Sabon Gari and six other local government areas to get water” he explained.
“This is not just Zaria water project alone, it is water project for Zaria and other local government areas water projects. For us in the state, it is the most important project we inherited and we intend to see it to completion” he assured.
“By God’s grace, by the end of next year or before, we would have completed this project and everything would be in place to first supply Zaria and Sabon Gari with water. And as we move on, we hope to raise money to also do pipe work for Soba and other Local Governments to also have water from this one project” he concluded.
The Zaria Regional Water Project has been on since Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s administration with successive administration doing bits and pieces. But the greatest progress was made under the lare Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa/Muhktar Ramalan Yero administration, before the coming of El-Rufai.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here