
Kaduna Gets 3,000 Capacity Tractors Assembly Plant.
…..Solar plant too
Governor Nasiru El-rufai of Kaduna State has inaugurated a tractor assembly plant of Springfield Mahindra in Kaduna that would produce 3,000 tractors yearly.
With the inauguration of the plant, the state was being positioned to be an investors destination by providing an enabling environment, the governor said on Wednesday.
He assured prospective investors of his administration’s support in realising their investment target.
El-Rufai said the tractor that would be assembled in the plant would not only empower farmers, but enable the state boost its food production.
“With this, Kaduna state will be able to produce a lot of food. These tractors will go a long way in ensuring that we have more mechanised farming,’’ the governor said.
El-rufai said that there were not more than 30,000 tractors in the whole of the country,
“What this plant will be producing will be more than 10 per cent of what is already in the country which means in a few years we will be able to double the figure,” he said
Earlier in his address, Mr Tarun Das, Managing Director Springfield Mahindra tractor Assembly plant, said the plant was expected to produce 3,000 tractors per annum
According to Das, 20 million U.S. Dollars had been invested in the project which would create 200 jobs when fully operational within the next two to three months.
Meanwhile, Gov. El-Rufai also performed ground-breaking of the construction of the Kaduna Hilton Hotel.
He said that the hotel, located along Muhammadu Buhari Way, would have 200 luxury rooms, conference rooms.
Meanwhile, the Gov ernor El-Rufai has also inaugurated
Blue Camel Renewable Solar Power Assembly Plant and Renewable Energy Training Academy in Kaduna.
The governor said at the launch in Kaduna that the plant was important to the Kaduna State Government “because we believe that renewable energy and solar energy were the future of the developing world.
“The world today has become mobile, personal, decentralised and aggregated with the rapid drop in components required to make solar energy.”
The governor said that with the present development, every home could generate it’s own electricity, adding that it was one of the reasons why solar project was important to the state and to Nigeria as a whole.
He explained that “today, we laid the foundation for the democratisation of electric energy to every home and every school in Kaduna State.”
According to him, solar energy is the future of electricity supply, it is cost effective and easier to ensure that every home gets supply.
“It is possible and we are going to show that it is possible in Kaduna State because Blue Camel will not only energise street lights but also schools and primary health centres,” he added.
The Managing Director and Founder of Blue Camel, Mr Yusuf Suleiman, said the power assembly plant and training academy was initiated and completed within eight months.
Suleiman said the rapid completion of the project was achieved due to support of the Kaduna State Government, which provided the company with land within 24 hours of request.
According to him, the project has the capacity to assemble over 10,000 units of different solar products in a year and train over 3,000 youths in different renewable energy entrepreneurship skills.
He said that the company was ready to lead in solving energy related problems across different sectors of the economy.
He revealed that so far, the company had invested over one million dollars and would be investing another five million dollars within 24 months to ensure the delivery of solar generated power to factories.
He added that the development of the projects would help and also impact on Federal Government’s economic recovery and growth, especially in areas of skills and capacity development technology transfer, entrepreneurship and job creation.
The managing director said the project was proof that the private sector was willing to invest if given enough support by government.
He called on agencies and the Ministry of Power to match it’s drive of incremental power with policies that would encourage local content investment.