• Mulls lifting Okada ban
James Ojo, Abuja; Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Kano State Government has announced the approval of N4 billion for the construction of underpass and flyover which will link Zaria Road/Silver Jubilee and Zoo Road in the metropolis.
Commissioner for Information, Youth, and Culture, Malam Muhammad Garba, in a statement issued in Abuja, yesterday, said the project was aimed at reducing carbon emission, minimising road accidents and beautification of the state capital, among others. He said approval of money for the project was made at the 11th State Executive Council meeting chaired by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
He said already, the state government has engaged in the reconstruction, expansion, rehabilitation and upgrading of existing roads in the state, including the construction of underpass at Sharada/Panshekara Road Junction which has been completed and commissioned by President Buhari as well as the construction of multiple underpasses along Katsina Road, which is on the verge of completion.
Garba said the state government is also completing all inherited projects which, he said, include the Murtala Mohammed Way Flyover which was inherited from the previous administration at 15 percent completion stage, and Gadon Kaya underpass/Yahaya Gusau Road, among others.
Apart from the N4 billion for the project, the commissioner said council equally approved the sum of $36, 000 being payment of project fees for 18 state-sponsored students in El-Razi University, Sudan; procurement of bed sheets for 31 secondary health facilities at the cost of N39 million; reconstruction work of Dawakin Kudu-Lahadin Makole Road in Dawakin Kudu local government at the cost of over N748 million.
Others, he said, include expansion/repairs of Giginyu-Kawo-Eastern Bypass Road in Nassarawa local government in Nassarawa local government; rehabilitation works/upgrade of Fagwalawa Primary Healthcare Centre to Cottage Hospital for which the sum of more than N588 million, and N230 million, has been approved, respectively.
Meanwhile, Kano has dropped hints that it is considering lifting the ban on the use of motorcycles for commercial activities in the state.
Commissioner for Works, Housing and Transport, Alhaji Aminu Aliyu, dropped the hint at the weekend while fielding questions from newsmen.
He spoke at the unveiling of a new commercial motorcycle (XL100 ), which was manufactured in the state.
According to him, the thinking in the government is in the direction of un-banning commercial motorcycle activities.
“Now that we are relatively out of the security challenges that brought about the ban, in the first place, we are going to come back to the normal.
“By the grace of God, in the very nearest future, we are going to come to our normal life of transportation,” he said.
Aliyu said the determination of the Ganduje administration was to partner private investors, from home and abroad, “to boost the commercial activities of the state and grow its economy.”
He said the manufacturing company has been around for 30 years and has been growing ever since it arrived the shores of Nigeria, adding that its growth is an indication that the product is good and doing well in the country.
The state government, some six years ago, had placed a ban on commercial motorcycle operation in the state following the use of motorcycles by suspected Boko – Haram insurgents to hit their targets in the state.
The policy threw hundreds of motorcycle operators out of job, but paved way for the use of commercial tricycles as a replacement.