From Walter Ukaegbu, Abuja
The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) says its furniture and wood enterprise cluster, under construction at Industrial Development Centre (IDC), Idu, Abuja, will be completed in 2021.
Dr Dikko Radda, Director-General, SMEDAN disclosed this recently during a facility tour of the project by SMEDAN said facility tour was aimed at accessing the completion level and benefits of the ongoing SMEDAN furniture and wood enterprise cluster project.
The cluster park is an agglomeration of enterprises in a geographical location aimed at promoting the development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) for economic growth. The Abuja pilot scheme, sitting on 1.8 hectares of land, comprising an administrative block with One-Stop-Shop, workshops, warehouses is expected to accommodate 525 MSMEs when operational.
Radda, represented by Mr. Anthony Igba, Deputy Director, Department of Engineering Technology and Infrastructure, said the project which began in 2020 had reached 80 per cent completion. According to him, the pilot project will be completed tentatively at the end of 2021, based on availability of funds. African Development Bank (AfDB) provided a grant of $600.000 (N228.3m) for SMEDAN to conduct a viability study for the conversion of the IDCs across the country into cluster parks.