NAN-H-96
Rail
Kano, Jan 5, 2017 (NAN) Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje on Thursday inaugurated a 13-member committee to ensure effective implementation of the Kano Metropolitan Light Rail Train project.
The state government and a Chinese firm, China Railway Company Group CR18G-CRECG, signed an agreement for the construction of the project.
Ganduje said the committee was expected to liaise with the contractors, banks in China, coordinators of the project and the Federal Government, that guarantee the project.
“The project has gone far. Our decision to constitute a committee is to ensure its effective implementation.
He decried critics of the project, saying: “when you talk of a mega city it doesn’t stop at population.
“We are committed to making Kano a mega city. What remains now is the final agreement and the Federal Government’s approval to take-off,’’ he said.
He said government had decided to take the loan to finance the project because no country in the world has ever finance railway projects without bank facilities.
Ganduje said that the state metropolitan light rail initiative as assured by experts, would pay the loan through its expected generated revenue,
He appealed to people of the state to critically look at the benefit and good side of the project, considering the population and the plan to make the state a true mega city.
Responding on behalf of the committee members, the Chairman, Alhaji Iliyasu Tofa, thanked Ganduje for the appointment, and assured that the committee members would justify the confidence reposed in them. (NAN)
MTM/FAT/OFN
Edited by Fatima Sule/Felix Nwadioha