EIGHT hundred and thirty-two kilometers of roads has been constructed in Katsina State, the state government has said on Sunday, adding that it is in line with its determination to lay a solid foundation for economic strength of the state.
According to Ibrahim Shema, Governor of Kano State, the investment signals his administration’s commitment to build a legacy of quality infrastructural development to facilitate economic empowerment of the people
He stressed that road construction was an on-going and continuous exercise of the administration’s urbanization program.
“So we look at the dimensions it would bring for job creation and we look at the potential it would bring for expansion of the city of Katsina. And we don’t just construct the road.
“We do the six-lane road in addition we make sure we provide electricity in that whole area. We provide boreholes along the way for water supply on both sides of the roads.
“By now I am sure we have reached 832 kilometers of roads construction. This is in addition to over 1000 kilometers of rural feeder roads that have been constructed.
“And of course we have 34 caterpillars, 34 pay loaders and 34 tippers working in the local government headquarters to provide additional access roads into the hinterland.’’
The governor said that with the exception of Funtua, all major roads in the seven original local government areas of the state had been dualized in pursuance of the urban expansion agenda
He explained that government was determined to ensure that roads were constructed in all the major towns rather than concentrating on the state capital alone.
“We have really done something in the major towns of Katsina. Katsina evolved from seven old local government headquarters and now turned up to 34 local governments in total.
“The original seven local governments, all of them but one, have dualized roads internally to expand the movement of traffic in them.
“Funtua by choice decided that they wanted a bye pass to complement the existing bye pass and serve like an alternative ring road for them instead of dualization inside Funtua.
“So you can see there is a lot of efforts in expanding and urbanizing local government headquarters that are big into urban centers, ‘’ the governor added.
In the area of healthcare delivery, Shema said the administration was assiduously working towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015 by reducing child and maternal mortality.
According to the governor, several interventions are being embarked upon by government to ensure delivery of quality primary health care services to the people of Katsina state.
The health facilities include the Turai Yar’Adua Maternity and Children Hospital, 58 clinics and the 250-bed Orthopedic Hospital which is about 80 per cent completed.
Others include the quarterly allocation of N100 million for the purchase of drugs to service the state’s Free Drugs Revolving Scheme and continuous training of medical personnel.
He emphasized that the government was taking necessary steps to eradicate polio and other child killer diseases in the state.
“There are challenges in the issue of vaccination, especially to do with polio. Recently, I authorized the release of more than N200 million to support the fight against polio.
“We are working very hard with international donor agencies, with the Federal Government and with our state primary health care to ensure that we rid our society of polio and other child killer diseases.
“We invest over N100 million per quarter to buy drugs and we still reduce about 25 per cent of the cost of purchase from the manufacturer to sell at cheaper rate to the people who need them.
“But, essentially government has always paid very serious attention to the development and improvement of the health sector on continuous basis.’’