The Adamawa Government, in collaboration with critical stakeholders in the tourism industry, have concluded plans to turn the Kiri water dam located in the Shellang Local Government Area into a holiday resort park.

Mr. Aloysius Babadoke, the Commissioner of Culture and Tourism, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola on Wednesday.

He said the initiative was part of the government’s effort to promote the tourism sector.

”This will also open another window of opportunity for the state in revenue generation and pave way for investors considering the potential abounding in tourist sites in the dam.

“The government will continue to maximise and harness the tourism potential in the state for socio-economic development.

”Adamawa is blessed with tourism sites, notably the Modibbo Adama Palace Museum in Yola South, Sukur World Cultural Heritage Site in Madagali.

”Others include are the three Sisters Rock in Song LGA, Sassa Waterfall and Gumti National Park in Toungo LGA, Elephant House in Guyuk as well as the confluence of River Gongola and Benue among others.

“This is in addition to the rich annual festivals organised across 21 LGAs of the state which mostly attract tourists from different parts of the world,” the commissioner noted.

The dam 615 million m³ capacity, was built to provide irrigation for the Savannah Sugar Company (SSC), a large-scale sugar cane plantation and processing company set up as a joint venture between the Nigerian Federal Government and the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC), London.

The CDC was managing agent for the project and the construction contract was awarded to NECCO, a company largely owned by the government.

The Savannah Sugar Company was acquired by Dangote Industries in 2002.

In 2009, the company owned 32,000 hectares of land near the dam, of which 6,330 were in use and employed about 5,000 people.

The company was producing about 50,000 tonnes of sugar annually, supplying the Nigerian market which consumes 1.1 million tonnes each year.

Over 1,000 hectares of irrigated rice and other crops were being grown using the company’s canals.