El-Rufa’i To Commit N29.6bn To Power Supply, Agriculture

Mallam Nasir El-Rufai

Mallam Nasir El-Rufai

Kaduna State Government said it would commit over N29.6 billion on power supply, agriculture and rail transport.

Gov. Nasiru El-Rufa’i who stated this on Wednesday in Kaduna at the opening of the Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit, said that part of the projects captured under the state’s 2016 budget was the construction of a rail line for Kaduna metropolis which would gulp N10 billion.

The governor said the rail line designed under the first phase to run from Marabar-Jos to KRPC, would be financed by a loan granted to states from the Excess Crude Account.

“We are using the N10 billion that every state got from the excess crude account 20-year loan at 9% interest to build this important project.”
“The state government will commit N5 billion to complete the 30 megawatt Gurara Power Plant, to provide reliable electricity to Kakuri industrial estate.
“The aim is to revive various industries in the area that were moribund due to high energy cost. In addition, we are collaborating with the Federal Government to take over and complete the 250 megawatt Kudendan Power Plant.
“ We borrowed N7.5 billion from the CBN Power Intervention Fund to finance the project,” the governor said.

On agriculture, he said that the administration would plough funds into rice, ginger, sorghum and maize production.
According to him, N5 billon would be injected to triple ginger production and N2.1 billion for rice production.
He said that rice farmers would be offered an interest free loan to boost production with the loan secured from CBN at 1% interest.
The governor assured investors of his administration’s commitment to provide security and ensure harmonious coexistence among the people for businesses to thrive.
He assured that the government would grant investors access to land within 30 days, adding that the administration would inject N2.27 billion to computerise its land registry to make access to land titles easier.
El-Rufai also enumerated efforts made by his administration to strengthen tax system, education sector, and other key areas of social and economic importance to the state.

(NAN)