Demolition: Shop owners’ll have right of first refusal, says el-Rufai

TRACKING___Following the demolition of markets in Kaduna State as part of government’s urban renewal programme, Governor Nasir el-Rufai yesterday promised that shop owners would be given the right of first refusal when the new Kaduna markets currently under construction are completed.

This was as the governor insisted that no trader would be short-changed in the distribution of the shops.

The governor, who was responding to a question from a caller during a media chat with Kaduna residents on radio at the weekend, said the data of all shop owners had been captured.

He also promised that no government official or civil servant would be allocated a shop in any of the markets that were being rebuilt.

He, however, said that the traders were just tenants in the market, which he said belonged to the state government, dispelling the misconception that the shops belonged to the traders.

Governor el-Rufai pointed out that the fact that the original allotees had sub-leased or even sold the shops to third parties, did not make the beneficiaries the owners of the shops.

The governor further argued that the markets should be rebuilt, “because the population that they were initially meant to cater for has grown over the years. Also, the facilities are old and there is need to modernise them.’’

According to him, Kasuwar Barci in Tudun Wada area of Kaduna South Local Government, Kasuwan Magani in Kajuru Local Government, Kawo Market in Kaduna North, as well as Sabon Gari Market in Zaria, would all be rebuilt and fitted with modern facilities.

The governor also said that temporary markets had been provided for the traders who would be affected by the markets re-development projects, adding that they would do business there until the new markets were ready for use.

el-Rufai, who said that the projects would be handled by the Kaduna Markets Development and Management Company (KMDMC) through public private partnership (PPP), also said that they had addressed the concerns of small traders who may not have money to re-purchase their shops upon completion.

The state government had already entered a mortgage arrangement with some banks, whereby they would give the traders money to purchase the shops, while the banks would hold onto the Certificates of Occupancies until their mortgages were liquidated, he added.

According to him, the repayment plan was flexible as it would take five years to liquidate the mortgage.

‘’The principle is that instead of paying monthly rents, the shop owners will now pay these monies to the bank in order to offset the mortgage,’’ he explained.

The governor, who decried the situation whereby people were calling on government officials all sort of names because of the market re-development project, said that posterity would judge his administration positively for embarking on the project.