From Maiharaji Altine Salah
Governor Nasir Idris of kebbi state has flagged-off the construction, rehabilitation and modernisation of Birnin Kebbi motor park expected to gulp N2.99 billion.
The project according to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to kebbi state Governor, Ahmed Idris was expected to be completed in 18 months.
Speaking after kick-starting the project in Birnin Kebbi on Thursday, Governor Nasir said the gesture was in fulfilment of one of his campaign promises.
The governor, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Yakubu Bala-Tafida, said the project was meant to give the state capital a befitting outlook through modernisation and rehabilitation of existing structures.
He urged the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the facility to improve their business, insisting “the more the project is protected the longer the period it will serve the beneficiaries.”
In his speech, theKebbi State Commissioner for Works, Alhaji Umar Faruk-Muslim recalled that the motor park which was constructed 25 years ago, specifically in 1996 had been allowed to deteriorate due to negligence by successive administration in the state.
According him, the specification of the contract include; redesign, reconstruction and modernisation to a befitting motor park to accommodate commercial transit businesses.
Faruk-Muslim advised the beneficiaries to do everything possible to safeguard the project from any form of vandalism to enable it stand the test of time.
Earlier in a welcome address, the Chairman, Kebbi State chapter of Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alahaji Atiku Mai-mai-Gwandu expressed appreciation to the present administration under Kauran Gwandu and pledged to extend all the necessary support to it to succeed.
Mai-mai-Gwandu appealed to members of the union to ensure proper utilisation of the motor park when completed to ease their jobs, boost their revenue base and enhance the internally generated revenue of the state.