By Nneka Nwogwugwu
As part of efforts to boost the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) natural gas pipeline project, the Kano State Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria (GACN) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
NatureNews reports that the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano Natural Gas Pipeline (AKKP) is a pipeline planned to transport natural gas from Ajaokuta, in Kogi State to Kano through several states and urban centers, as part of the Trans Nigeria Gas Pipeline.
Construction of the AKKP commenced in July 2020 and is expected to end in 2023.
The 614 kilometre natural gas pipeline project is estimated to cost $2.8 billion in the phase one of the Trans-Nigeria Gas Pipeline (TNGP) project.
At the pact signing, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari, represented by Chief Operating Officer, Gas & Power, Engr. Yusuf Usman said the establishment of the AKK committee in Kano and the creation of a new gas industrial park at Tamburawa by the state government made NNPC to see Kano as very keen on the project, the Punch stated.
Kano state governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, represented by his deputy, Nasir Gawuna, said with the establishment of the gas industrial park, foreigners have started approaching the state government with investment proposals.
Also, Managing Director of GACN, Olalekan Ogunleye, said one of the initiatives under the gas project is the autogas, which he said that 30 percent of the operational cost of vehicles could be cut when vehicles are converted to autogas.
Chairman of the Kano AKK Committee, Engr. Muazu Magaji, informed that the designation of Tamburawa as a gas industrial park by the state government will come in handy when the AKK project finally kicks off.