The Minister of Water Resources, Malam Suleiman Adamu disclosed that the Federal Government has taken over the construction of the Farin-Ruwa Hydropower Multipurpose Dam in Nasarawa State.
The minister made this disclosure during the inauguration ceremony on Friday in the Wamba Local Government Area of the state. He stated that the project had a completion period of 24 months.
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According to him, the project was initiated in 2003 and started by Nasarawa State Government in 2004 t generate 20 megawatts of electricity to boost socioeconomic development of the state.
He said, “The implementation of the project suffered setback due to paucity of fund but the state government solicited the intervention and takeover by the Federal Government in order to actualise the project.
“The Ministry of Water Resources wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari and he graciously approved the takeover and completion of the project on October 19, 2018.”
While commending the Nasarawa State Government for initiating the project and for the provision of necessary logistics for smooth takeover, Adamu explained that Buhari had also approved the expansion of the project to include regional water scheme and construction of irrigation infrastructures of 2000 hectares for dry season farming to serve the people of the area.
He also commended Governor Abdullahi Sule for constructing the access road to the project that originally was supposed to be part of the items to be constructed by the Federal Government.
The minister then assured the people of the state that the Federal Government would ensure that the project was completed within the stipulated period and according to contract specifications.
In his response, the Governor commended the Federal Government and the Minister of Water Resources for taking over the hydropower multipurpose dam project. He said the president had continued to play a fatherly role by approving anything that would lead to peace, progress and development of Nasarawa State.
He also commended Senator Abdullahi Adamu, first executive governor of the state, for initiating the project and thanked the successive administrations for their efforts towards ensuring that the project was completed.
The governor said, “I decided to construct the 15.5 kilometres access road to ensure smooth takeover of the project even though it was part of what the Federal Government would do in the area.
“The dam has the capacity to produce 50megawatts of electricity that would serve the entire state and supply the Federal Capital Territory and beyond.”
He therefore assured the Federal Government that the people of the area would give the contractor the needed support to ensure that the project was completed according to specification.
