Plateau State Government has signed a N13.7 billion contract with a Chinese company, China Geochemical Company (CGC), for the rehabilitation of the Laminga and Yakubu Gowon Dams.
Speaking during the signing ceremony at Government House, Little Rayfield, Jos, on Friday, Secretary to the Government of Plateau, Samuel Jatau, said that the water project demonstrates the government’s desire to provide water to the people of the state.
He said that the initial contract was signed by the last administration but was abandoned.
Jatau said, ‘The contract was inherited from the last administration in 2019, but no serious action was taken. Due to the lack of payment of counterpart funding.
He said that as an agricultural state, apart from domestic use, water is seriously needed for agricultural projects, adding that though the government had received severe criticisms over the problem of water, it had tried to mitigate the problem using other means.
‘We are all aware that water is life, and without water we cannot thrive. Agriculture is one of our focal areas as a government and we need water for farming and irrigation. I know that this government has faced criticism from public that we do not care about water, but I think part of that is politics, because even without this contract being signed, or this project moving forward, government has tried to mitigate the problem of water using other means like the procurement of trucks, water tankers and drilling of boreholes.’
He charged the contractors to be conscious of the fact that the contract has timelines and to be completed by 2026.
According to him, the contract has value chain as the people will be employed as laborers and contractors.
Managing Director of the Chinese firm, Ke You Cheng, promised that the company would abide by the terms of the contract.
Commissioner for Water Resources, Bashir Lawandi, said that the government will mitigate the effects of the rehabilitation of the two major dams by using water trucks to provide water to communities in the state.