By Vanessa Obioha
As he begins to wind down his administration and do a studios count of his achievements during the eight years of his stewardship as helmsman in Kano State, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje will, undoubtedly, give a pride of place to and speak in glowing terms about the Kano Economic City (KEC).
The Public Private Partnership (PPP) project between the state government and Brains and Hammers Limited is most definitely top on Ganduje’s list of legacy projects.
Spanning across 117 hectares of land, the Kano State Governor is proud that the working relationship between his government and the company has produced a CWC, GSM village, Trailer Park, warehouses, and Container Terminal among others which will be commissioned this November 2022.
Mr. Ibrahim Bako, Director of Brains and Hammers, in charge of the KEC recalls the fortuitous circumstance under which the company secured the deal.
“The Governor was visiting a friend who resides in one of our estates at Asokoro in Abuja. Impressed with what he saw, he inquired about the owners of the estate from his friend. That was how we came into the picture. When we met him, he told us what he had in mind. He provided the land and we took it from there. We know how important this project is to the governor and we were determined to make him proud, from Day One.”
The Kano Economic City is designed to be a one-stop international standard market providing 35,000 shops, 250 capacity trailer park, 200 warehouses, Bus Terminal, Conference Center, petrol stations, hotels, and a motel. A total of 3234 shops have been constructed and have mostly been sold.
The Project represents the largest economic hub in West Africa and is an architectural masterpiece that can be copied for future modern market development projects in West Africa.
The initial projected capital investment was N78 Billion, but it has now been reviewed upwards to N150 Billion.
Commending the involvement of Jaiz Bank Plc, without which the project may not have been possible, Mr. Bako said the bank deserves all the praise for believing in the project from the beginning and staying the course.
“Jaiz Bank has even opened a functional branch inside the KEC to demonstrate the extent of its commitment. Although there has been a recent change of baton in the leadership of the bank, the new Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Jaiz Bank, Dr Sirajo Salisu is very familiar with the project and we are confident that we will continue to enjoy a very good working relationship with him.”
