Katsina State government says it has constructed 832 kilometres of roads as part of its urban expansion programme aimed at laying a solid foundation for economic advancement of the state.
Gov. Ibrahim Shema made this known on Sunday in Katsina when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He expressed his administration’s commitment to build a legacy of quality infrastructural development to facilitate economic empowerment of the people
He stressed that road construction was an on-going and continuous exercise of the administration’s urbanisation programme.
“So we look at the dimensions it would bring for job creation and we look at the potential it would bring for expansion of the city of Katsina. And we don’t just construct the road.
“We do the six-lane road in addition we make sure we provide electricity in that whole area. We provide boreholes?along the way for water supply on both sides of the roads.
“By now I am sure we have reached 832 kilometres of roads construction. This is in addition to over 1000 kilometres of rural feeder roads that have been constructed.
“And of course we have 34 caterpillars, 34 pay loaders and 34 tippers working in the local government headquarters to provide additional access roads into the hinterland.’’
Gov. Shema told NAN that with the exception of Funtua, all major roads in the seven original local government areas of the state had been dualised in pursuance of the urban expansion agenda.
He explained that government was determined to ensure that roads were constructed in all the major towns rather than concentrating on the state capital alone.
“We have really done something in the major towns of Katsina. Katsina evolved from seven old local government headquarters and now turned up to 34 local governments in total.
“The original seven local governments, all of them but one, have dualised roads internally to expand the movement of traffic in them.
“Funtua by choice decided that they wanted a bye pass to complement the existing bye pass and serve like an alternative ring road for them instead of dualisation inside Funtua.
“So you can see there is a lot of efforts in expanding and urbanising local government headquarters that are big into urban centres, ‘’ the governor added.
In the area of healthcare delivery, Shema said the administration was assiduously working towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015 by reducing child and maternal mortality.
According to the governor, several interventions are being embarked upon by government to ensure delivery of quality primary health care services to the people of Katsina state.
The health facilities include the Turai Yar’Adua Maternity and Children Hospital, 58 clinics and the 250-bed Orthopaedic Hospital which is about 80 per cent completed.
Others include the quarterly allocation of N100 million for the purchase of drugs to service the state’s Free Drugs Revolving Scheme and continuous training of medical personnel.
He emphasised that the government was taking necessary steps to eradicate polio and other child killer diseases in the state.
“There are challenges in the issue of vaccination, especially to do with polio. Recently, I authorised the release of more than N200 million to support the fight against polio.
“We are working very hard with international donor agencies, with the Federal Government and with our state primary health care to ensure that we rid our society of polio and other child killer diseases.
“We invest over N100 million per quarter to buy drugs and we still reduce about 25 per cent of the cost of purchase from the manufacturer to sell at cheaper rate to the people who need them.
“But, essentially government has always paid very serious attention to the development and improvement of the health sector on continuous basis.’’
Gov. Shema also told NAN that his administration would continue to allocate a substantial portion of its budget to the health sector because it was critical to the well-being of the people. (NAN)