Inuwa Yahaya Governor of Gombe State says arrangements are being concluded to launch the N17 billion Gombe industrial park into operations by end of August.
Yahaya disclosed this to State House journalists, after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.
He said the procurement processes have been completed, adding that “we are going to award the project by the end of this month”.
“When we start, there will be no end to it because we are doing it in phases.
The first phase of the project is expected to cost about N17 billion and will cover about 347 hectares of land.
The project is located at the site of the Dadin Kowa dam and hydropower plant, which already has 40 megawatts of power, in the state.
Read also: Investors gain N13bn amid buy interest in Nigeria’s penny stocks
The project has been described as big attraction for investors and industrialists, as the zone boosts of fertile agricultural lands and other natural resources
Governor Yahaya revealed that the state has remained peaceful, despite its proximity to its volatile neighborhours of Borno and Adamawa, because of deliberate efforts to ensure a secure environment, as a necessary prerequisite for business to thrive.
“You must facilitate and give adequate support in all aspects. Be it security, be it good health care, education, skills, or normal trade and development which our people have keyed into.
Yahaya said the government recognises the state’s agrarian and is encouraging the people to embrace agripreneurship, processing and semi processing of agricultural produce.
“That is why a lot of those engaged in major businesses have gone to Gombe especially to partake in those ventures”
The governor applauded the rating as the most efficient in the area of ease-of-doing business, saying “Gombe is up and doing with regards to the ease-of-doing business initiatives.”
