By Funmi Olasupo

Abuja —The Galma multi purpose Dam which has attained about 95 percent completion level, would improve the economic value of the people of Kaduna State.

Vanguard Homes & Property gathered that the Dam, when completed will generate about 2.5 megawatts of electricity, as well as provide about 150 million liters of water per day to the people of the state. In addition to to these, it will also provide irrigation of facilities to the farmers.

The Minister of Water Resources, Mrs Sarah Ochekpe who inspected the Galma multipurpose dam located in Kubau Local Government of Kaduna State with Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, reeled out these advantages.

Ochekpe who maintained that the government would ensure the completion of ongoing projects before embarking on new ones, was optimistic that work on the dam would be completed very soon.

“That is why we gave all the necessary support towards the completion of this project. We are glad that the dam has reached 95 percent completion,” she said, adding that the project would ensure increase in “the level of foreign exchange and reduce dependency on oil revenue”.

“The facilities of the dam project included; the development of irrigation facility to irrigate between 1,500 to 2,000 hectares of land for the farmers, provision of water transfer from Galma Dam to the Zaria Dam to support the Zaria Regional Water Project funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB). The hydropower component of the dam would also generate about 2.5 megawatts being the core desire of the Federal Government to see that the rural communities are well developed so that the country would have a staple crop processing zone,” she said.

“The installation of power within the facility would further strengthen the rural economy in the area, create job opportunities and strengthen capacity of Nigeria to be able to process the crops that are being produced by farmers.”