I felt scandalised when I read a letter published in the Daily Trust newspaper of Monday, December 1, 2020, titled: “Kano for Sale” in which one Kabiru Tsakuwa attempted to hogwash efforts by the government of Kano State to revivify non-performing public assets in the state.
I believe the obliviousness of the writer on the space-age move to make the ancient city catch up with modernity for a befitting mega city status can easily be deduced from his letter. It is fair if he can arm himself with facts in order to make an informed and constructive criticism.
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Of course, one revers our past leaders, some of whom are late, for their immeasurable contributions to the development of Kano State, and particularly for bequeathing these legacy properties. One of such legacy properties the writer cited-Daula Hotel-has not been sold.
The hotel has been abandoned rotting away for years. Even the School of Hospitality and Tourism situated within its premises only occupies 10 per cent of the structure, which had become a hiding place for criminals. And I believe “the saintly figures of yore like legendary Audu Bako and Abubakar Rimi” will be the saddest persons on earth to see the deplorable condition of such legacies. And indeed, no serious government would allow such properties just like that.
The government of Kano State is making efforts to revitalise such under-performing assets to make them economically viable through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with willing investors in the best public interest. This arrangement does not in any way make the investors owners of such properties, but rather an equity arrangement with the government.
In the last five years of the present administration in the state, Kano has been edging towards attaining the Mega-City status given the unprecedented growth in legendary physical infrastructure directed at aiding economic development in the state, which also the writer deliberately overlooked.
Many of such projects that included tarred roads bridges, landscaping and beautification of streets have been completed and put to use. The cityscape is also dominated by massive office complexes, high-rise residential buildings, and shopping malls and business ventures, vest pockets of upscale housing estates, local markets, hotels, parks etc.
The revised Kano Master Plan also seeks to make Kano an urbanised city and to provide the foundation for the growth of other smaller cities such as the headquarters of the newly created Emirates.
Muhammad Garba, Commissioner for Information, Kano State.
