Plans are afoot for President Muhammadu Buhari to flag off the terminal building of the N20b Nasarawa State cargo airport located at Kwandere village, about 10 kilometres from Lafia, the state capital
The airport being handled by Chinese construction giants, Tongyi Group, is about 200 kilometers away from Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital, is already at 60 percent completion stage and is expected to transform agro allied processing, industrial raw materials transportation and enhance economic fortune of the State.
Nasarawa State Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura said the project is being prosecuted on a public private partnership arrangements with the state government contributing just 25 percent of the total cost, while the Chinese firm, Tongyi group will bear the remaining 75 percent.
The project which was flagged of in December, 2015 also has a new alternative road network connecting Abuja which is expected to reduce travel time between Abuja and the state capital by about 50 minutes
Speaking with State House Corespondents on Tuesday after conferring with the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, Al- Makura gave assurance that the project will be commissioned within the life span of the current administration by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The cargo airport which is very critical in the development of Nasarawa State and also the corridor of the federal capital Territory and also to promote the diversification initiative of Mr. President to boost economic activities like trade and what have you”
“I came to confer with the chief of staff with regards to very critical issues relating to the administration of Nasarawa State. We made a request for mr. President’s visit through the office of the chief of staff and mr. President has accepted and I have c9me to discuss the details”
The Governor said the President is also expected to Flagg off the State mass housing project “which is one of the priorities of my state given the 13,000hectares plan area which we have just beside the corridor of the federal capital Territory”
Other projects lined up to be commissioned by President Buhari during the State visit, will include the special school for people with disability.
He said the school will be the largest single school in the whole of the federation that caters for all categories of people with disability.
The school is designed to cater for the education of children with disability right from kindergarten stage up to senior secondary, including those with cases of cerebral palsy popularly known as autism to people with vision impairment, hearing impairment and even physical impairment like the cripples.
“This will give tremendous amount of relief to parents who have children living with disability, whose education could not go beyond certain level. That school is like a premier institution which an admit people not only within Nasarawa State or north central zone but all over the country. But what is more, that’s for free.”
” We also have plans for primary health care center that is suppose to be a center for providing services within and around areas that are deprived of health services. This is the first of its kind in the country, and we are talking with the federal ministry of health and primary health care Development agency at the national level so that this will one one of the items Mr. President will commission” he said.
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
