The Federal Government on Sunday said expansion and rehabilitation work on the multi million naira Hadejia Valley Irrigation Project in Jigawa would resume by April.
The Minister for Water Resources, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, disclosed, while addressing newsmen in Dutse, that the World Bank would handle the project along with others in the country.
Adamu said that the valley would be expanded by 3,000 additional hectares while expansion of Kadawa dam in Kano State would be increased to 5,000.
According to him, all necessary arrangements havr been made for work to resume in the area in April.
The minister disclosed that the bank had earmarked $495 million for expansion and rehabilitation of dams in the Northern part of the country.
“We have been talking about 7,000 to 12,000 hectares in Hadejia Valley Irrigation project but from the outcome of my visit to the valley in December last year, we discovered that we still have potential of 25,000 hectares.”
“After the completion of this expansion work that will be funded by World Bank, the ministry will find the possibility of harnessing the additional 25,000 hectares in the Hadejia valley.”
Adamu also disclosed that the present administration inherited 44 ongoing dam projects across the country from previous governments and would ensure their completion before embarking on new ones.
He said that in the present government’s road map, irrigation land would be increased from current 137,000 hectares to 500,000 hectares by 2030.
The minister noted that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was determined and committed to maintain dams to ensuring irrigation and hydro power projects. (NAN)
