Governor Aminu Masari’s government has awarded a N2.4 billion contract to construct a 24.5km road. The contract award was announced on Tuesday.

The road connects Danja, the headquarters of the Danja local government area, to two rural communities, Bazanga and Nahuce.

The project is expected to be completed in 18 months.

Katsina awarded the contract in collaboration with the World Bank and the French Development Agency under the Katsina State Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Programme.

The ministry of environment is executing the programme.

The ministry’s permanent secretary, Abubakar Gege, said at the signing of the Danja- Bazanga-Nahuce contract that the collaboration was part of an intervention to arrest environmental challenges in Katsina.

He said the road project would assist farmers in transporting their produce from the hinterland to markets in urban centres. Mr Gege represented the environment commissioner, Hamza Faskari, at the ceremony.

“The contractors will be mobilised to start work in less than three days,’’ he added. 

In June, President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime signed a tripartite agreement with the World Bank and the French Development Agency to spend $575 million to construct rural roads in 13 states.

Katsina is one of the benefiting states.

The tripartite agreement was signed to advance infrastructure development across the country.

The project will also focus on the construction of rural roads covering 53,730km from 2022 to 2026.

In June, the national coordinator of the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project, Aminu Muhammed, said 12 of the 13 states had already received the take-off disbursement for commencement of the road construction works.

(NAN)