Goni commends Rijana Earth Dam project

He specifically praised the contractor for offering direct employment to about 80 people from the beneficiary communities.
Sheikh described the project as one capable of empowering the youth, adding that it was worthy of emulation.  
Sheikh gave the commendation during a visit to the ongoing Rijana Earth Dam Project site at Kaduna where he exchanged views with community leaders from Rijana and environs that came out in their large numbers to welcome him and his team to the project site.
He praised the community leaders for their sense of appreciation, stating that the various ecological projects spread across the country were part of government’s deliberate efforts to touch lives of people living at the grassroots.
He also enjoined them “to see such interventions as integral part of the massive infrastructural development going on in all sectors of the economy, aimed at developing the country, improve the socio-economic conditions of the people, alleviate poverty and generate employment in line with the Transformation Agenda of President Jonathan’s administration.”
The permanent secretary who was told by the contractor that the project would be ready before the end of the year, later inspected the reservoir, dyke, the crest, the spillway, the access road, the reinforced embankment as well as the old mini-dam which on completion of the new dam will be collapsed to provide Rijana and 25 other surrounding communities with an enhanced earth dam capable of meeting their water and irrigation needs.
The contract for the construction of Rijana Dam was awarded December 10, 2013 and expected to be completed in 16 months.