UNARGUABLY one of the busiest roads in Kano metropolis, Murtala Muhammed Way is also a road motorists would rather avoid.
The dual carriageway that stretches from Yankaba to Bata terminus, had in recent years, become a source of concern to residents on account of several bad stretches along the road.
A particularly nasty portion motorists strive to avoid like a plague starts from the roundabout linking Race Course Road past Daula Hotel and on to Audu Bako Road.
One of the innumerable motorists that ply the road, Malam Musa Ahmed, while lamenting the very poor nature of the road told The Guardian: “This road is terrible. It is too dusty and bad. The potholes are dangerous for vehicles as well as the drivers. The last time I drove through this portion of the road, I was coated with sand and dust. I don’t know if this road will ever be put into a good shape.
I have seen several earth machines on this road before and nothing happened in the end.”
Not far away is another very busy but equally neglected Independence Road.
Like the Murtala Muhammed Road, Independence Road enjoys the patronage of residents from Yankaba, Zango, Tudun wada, Tudun Murtala and the Bompai axis of the metropolis.
The road too has been in a state of disrepair for years.
Residents recall that sometime in April, towards the end of tenure of the past government last year, an earth-moving machine was hurriedly drafted to grade a small portion of the road adjacent the Bompai Police Barracks.
“That was the end till now,” a resident, Mustapha Bala, who lives in Tudun Wada told The Guardian.
He thinks the road may have been ignored as a result of the prevalence of the very poor and downtrodden in the part of the metropolis the road passes through.
“I am not surprised that this road is like this all these years. You know that the class of people who use this road include the commercial motorcyclists popularly called achaba, town service buses and even traders and artisans that trek on foot. Others are trucks that carry one form of consignment to the other to various industries that we have around the Bompai area. We have heard several stories that the road would soon be repaired.”
There are also other roads in other parts of Kano metropolis like Sabongari and in the rural councils of the state.
As a result, unending gridlock and congestion are now common in Kano metropolis where road users have been forced to use the few available passable roads.
From Tarauni to Dengi, Zoo Road, Bello Road, Bank Road to Zaria Road by Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) Roundabout, the Gwarzo road linking the Bayero University new campus, and several other roads right up to the old Kano city centre, motorists and other road-users experience agony on pot-hole ridden roads.
But it appears the Kano State government wants to bring an end to the agony of motorists in the metropolis.
The Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso-led administration has set aside huge sums of money to ensure that rehabilitation work on key roads that have been abandoned over the years, commences as soon as possible.
Already, hundreds of workers are fixing walkway paving stones and bricks along pavements of major roads within the metropolis to ease pedestrian movement.
The Kano State Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Alhaji Yusuf Bello Dambatta, disclosed on the occasion of the 2012 budget breakdown that among the roads marked for repair within the Kano metropolis are Murtala Muhammed Way that would cost N297.4 million, Independence Road, N788.8 million; Dan Agundi – Sharada –Sani Abacha Youth Centre Road, N905.8 million; while rehabilitation of failed section of Sabo Bakin Zuwo Road, and completion of Muhammadu Abdullahi Wase Road would cost N190.9 million. While construction of north-and-south roads would gulp N3.13 billion, routine rehabilitation of metropolitan roads gets N185 million.
The commissioner further disclosed plans to expend N2 billion on three flyovers as part of measures to tackle gridlocks adding that of N700 million would be spent to provide street and traffic light in the metropolis.
Of note is the government’s resolve to construct five-kilometres of tarred road with street lights in each of the 44 local councils of the state, which Kwankwaso said was in line with his desire to ensure even development across the state.
He said it would also dissuade rural dwellers from migrating to the urban centres.
The governor, had, while presenting the 2012 budget tagged “ Budget of economic restoration and development 2012” expressed his desire to pursue developmental objectives based on progressive policies, needs, aspirations and priorities geared towards restoring the leadership position of Kano state in commerce, industry, education, agriculture and infrastructural development.
The total budget of N221.61 billion consisting of N72.14 recurrent and N149.42 capital expenditure is to be financed from total projected recurrent revenue of N138.49 billion and a total estimated capital receipt of N83.12 billion.
that recurrent expenditure is taking 33 per cent of the total estimate while the capital expenditure takes 67 per cent of the allocation.
Dambatta, who gave details of government’s developmental agenda all the sectors like education, health, housing, water supply, youth and women empowerment, security, agriculture and natural resources, urban and regional planning and general administration assured that government would do all within its power to implement the budget to the letter,
He also reassured residents that the recent security challenges in the state would not stand in the way of the government’s determination to ensure a good quality of life for people of the state.
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