The World Bank, through Agro Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscape, (ACReSAL), and the Nasarawa State government have signed a N10 billion deal with Bauhaus Global/ICCO and GET Engineering to fight against soil erosion in Lafia, Doma and Toto local government areas of the state.
ACReSAL Project Coordinator in Nasarawa, Dr. Napoleon Elias-Gyobe, revealed this recently after signing of the agreement in Lafia, the state capital, adding that the contract was aimed at tackling climate change.
Dr. Elias-Gyobe said that the contract agreement was signed with the two private companies to address stormwater management sites and other environmental challenges in Toto, Doma and Lafia LGAs.
Elias-Gyobe appreciated the effort of the present administration under Governor Abdullahi Sule towards actualisation of the World Bank project in the state.
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He said, “Governor Abdullahi Sule has showed an expression of interest to participate in this climate change challenge programme. It’s on this note that the contract was awarded to two responsive bidders who won in Lot 1 and 2 respectively.
“So, in Lot 1, which is Lafia, Douma, the project awarded about N6,183,986,694,03 cobble while in Lot 2, which is in Toto, the contract sum is N3, 425, 896, 095,35 cobble. So this is approximately about N10 billion worth of contracts.
“So we want to see the value for money under this administration, to see that the good people of Nasarawa State will benefit from this ACReSAL project through different kinds of initiatives that the governor has put in place.”
He said the names of people in Toto LGA, who will be compensated along the corridors of the project had been compiled, adding there would be stakeholders engagement as the resettlement action plan had started.
“We have already paid some compensation to those at Kilima area of Lafia LGA of the state and those at Shinge (Lafia LGA). We are also compiling their names on how we could give them their compensation so that this project can have a serious buy-in from the community,” Elias-Gyobe added.
He disclosed that the first project would be completed in about 12 months, while the other one would take about 18 months, based on the size of the gully erosion site.
He further explained that the compensation amounted to about N2.4 billion, in Lafia and Douma LGAs and N744 million in Toto LGA.
Earlier, the chairman, steering committee of ACReSAL Project, who spoke on behalf of the Nasarawa State government, Muhammad Garba-Rosha, maintained that when completed, the project would address flooding issues and ensure food security across the 13 local government areas of the state.
Garba-Rosha, who doubles as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, assured the contractors of the state government’s resolve to ensure completion of the project.
Speaking on behalf of the private firms, Engr. Nizar Ibrehim, promised to deliver quality work within the time frame.
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