Kwankwaso’s N45bn mega cities without residents

The cities namely: Kwankwasiyya, Amana and Bandirawo were conceived by Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s administration to tackle the housing deficit in Kano and decongest the city. The projects which started in 2012 have been commissioned.First to be commissioned was the Kwankwasiyya City by former minister of defence, General TY Danjuma, followed by the Amana City […]

The cities namely: Kwankwasiyya, Amana and Bandirawo were conceived by Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s administration to tackle the housing deficit in Kano and decongest the city. The projects which started in 2012 have been commissioned.
First to be commissioned was the Kwankwasiyya City by former minister of defence, General TY Danjuma, followed by the Amana City which was commissioned by former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon. The two cities are located along Zaria road. The buildings attract motorists plying the ever-busy road.
Former Head of Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan commissioned the Bandirawo City which is situated along Dambatta road. The three cities house facilities like mosques, schools, hotels, shopping complexes, recreational centres and clinics.
Shonekan, during the commissioning of Bandirawo queried Kwankwaso, asking him the source of the funds he used in constructing the projects. His words: “Where did you get the money for the execution of these projects?
 “I just commissioned the Bandirawo City and I was made to understand that two others that are even bigger, Kwankwasiyya and Amana cities have also been commissioned by Gen. Gowon and Gen. Danjuma with over N45 billion spent.
“I saw the flyover on our way here and I’m impressed with quality of work and this world-class university has forced me to ask where you got the money, especially when you said your government has not taken a Kobo from anywhere.”
The projects have been generating applause for Kwankwaso. However during a visit to the cities on Wednesday our correspondent observed that construction works have reduced.  
In Amana City, our correspondent reports that many of the uncompleted structures including the ones that are yet to be roofed have been deserted by the contractors. On the third street in the city, only six builders were seen putting finishing touches on the buildings.
 A security guard in the city, Yunusa Yakubu said construction works in the city have not been going on as usual.
 “They’ve stopped working for sometime now but not in all the uncompleted structures. If you go to other areas in the city you’ll see builders working,” he said.
The case was not different in Kwankwasiyya City as our correspondent saw many uncompleted structures without workers on the site. A resident near the city, Muhammadu Ali said the buildings have been abandoned by the contractor for long.
Bandirawo City which is located along Dambatta road was deserted; only security guards and their families were seen around. It was gathered a five-bedroom flat duplex costs N35 million while the cheapest structure in the cities costs N13 million, a two-bedroom flat.
Our correspondent gathered that the high cost of the building is scaring away the people of the state from buying the structures. At the commissioning of the Kwankwasiyya City, the state governor, Kwankwaso announced that 250 houses and 41 hectares of land have been sold to a Chinese firm at the cost of N5 billion.
Commenting on the projects, Managing Director of Capital Property, Alhaji Sanusi Gambo Alkali said the cities won’t reduce the congestion in the Kano city because they are too expensive.
 “We advised the state governor when he was about to start building cities. We told him to go for structures that are affordable by many but he went ahead to build houses of N38 million on the outskirts of the town. With same amount, you will get same structure in the main city including Nasarawa GRA,” he said.
He added, “Had it been Kwankwaso builds two-bedroom flats of N5 million or so, the cities by now will be bubbling but now nobody is buying the houses. they’ve slashed down the prices, yet nothing has changed. People are running away because of the exorbitant prices.”
But in his reaction, the Managing Director of Kano Investment and Properties Limited, Alhaji Garba Aliyu Hungu said many houses have been booked and deposits made into the state government account.
To encourage buyers, he said the state government has approved 15 percent discount to all interested persons. “Over 50 percent of the houses has been booked by interested individuals by paying initial deposit to the state government,” he said in a phone interview.
 On the report that the houses are not affordable, he said; “The houses are not low-cost, we used the highest standard of building materials. The cheapest house there is N13 million and the highest is N35 million.”
He said the state government is partnering with the Aso Savings to enable civil servants in the state acquire houses in the cities.
“The management of Aso Savings has written a proposal to the state government on how to make the state civil servants acquire houses in the cities. If the arrangement works out, they will pay 20 percent and the remaining will be paid in installments for five years,” he said.
On the slow pace of works in the cities after commissioning, he said the state government commissioned the projects because they were 80 percent completed.
“More than 80 percent of the contractors have finished their works. That was why you don’t see people there as it was at the initial stage. And the contract for the installation of power supply in the cities has been awarded,” he said.