By Musa Ubandawaki (Sokoto State Correspondent)
The Mabera Storm Water Management and Flood control project currently under construction in Sokoto state will be completed and handed over to the Sokoto State Government in May this year.
The Sokoto NEWMAP Project Coordinator, Malam Ibrahim Umar, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Correspondent in Sokoto. He said the Mabera Flood Control project is a collaborative project between Sokoto State Government and the World Bank, aimed at arresting the menace of flooding in Mabera area, a suburb of the Sokoto metropolis.
Umar said the "project is a brainchild of many successive administrations in the state which they found very difficult to execute until the coming of the present administration in the state. Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, in his magnanimity, decided to collaborate with the World Bank for smooth execution of the project for the benefit of humanity", the coordinator stated. He said Sokoto state Government has since paid its counterpart funding of N1billion naira for the take-off of the Project, as a sign of commitment and seriousness.
In the same vein, the World Bank on its part released N2.5billion naira as its counterpart support for the flood control project which many in the state thought would not see the light of the day. He said before the commencement of the project, the consultant and the contractor handling the water diversion job, have carried out a series of feasibility studies, using satellite images for topographical accuracy to capture the entire area as it relates to the mass movement of surface running water during the rainy season.
The network of drainages to be constructed, according to the project coordinator, will be linked to extra-large channels that will reticulate the flood water back into river Sokoto. The project coordinator, Umar, further told our correspondent, that the contractor handling the project, Messrs Coberg Udoc Coberg Nigeria Limited, has been working round the clock to ensure timely and speedy completion of the long-awaited project.
Umar also explained that payment of compensation to over 500 victims affected by the project has since commenced and about to be completed with little or fewer intrigues. He reiterated that all grievances and complaints received thereafter as a result of the paid compensation would be addressed promptly by the agency. The project Coordinator however disclosed that more Erosion and flood control projects would be executed by the Agency in the near future in Lugu Dam, Yarbulutu, Rabah and Goronyo among others.
Umar, therefore, called on the residents of Mabera and indeed people of other parts of the state to appreciate the administration of Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal for embarking on the said project despite the States meager resources. NNL.
