A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF INDUSTRIAL AREAS IN NORTHERN NIGERlA

(A CASE STUDY OF KADUNA AND KANO)

By

Author

Presented To

Department of Environmental Design

ABSTRACT
Industrialization has been regarded by many developing countries as a key towards rapid socio-economic development Many governments have thus bean perusing various policies aimed at promoting industrial development,, The policy instruments used include the provision of certain incentives and inducements. It also involved the establishment of industrial areas in some principal towns. These industrial areas offer improved land, utilities and services and the advantage of economies of scale to the clustering industries. In Nigeria, most of the existing manufacturing industries in our large urban centres have been established on industrial areas and estates. Some of the industrial areas have been planned with good designs, layout and have adopted high standards of roads, setbacks, site coverage and plot sizes others have not and are consequently faced with layout, design and environmental problems. The aim of this thesis therefore, is to study the existing design characteristics of industrial areas in Kaduna and Kano with a view to identifying principles and standards for industrial area planning Data for this thesis was collected through the administration of questionnaires on industrialists and industrial employees. Information was also collected from assessment of layout plans of the industrial areas, town planning maps and. aerial photographs. It has been discovered that the industrial areas in Kaduna and Kano have same good design attributes and some problems which will give a good basis for formulating principles and standards for the design and layout of industrial areas. The good attributes of these industrial areas are (i) All the industrial areas in Kaduna and Kano have location with respect to direct access to transportation networks roads and railway lines; availability of Utilities and services such as water, electricity and effluent dispersal points and site or topographic conditions. (ii) modular approach to plot size and phasing of development have been adopted in most cases to provide flexibility to the layout. (iii) There is a defined hierarchy of roads. (iv) High standards have been adopted for road widths, setbacks, site coverage and plot sizes. Despite these good attributes, the industrial areas have some shortcomings in layout and design, For example there is the lack of integrated pedestrian routes, vehicular and pedestrian traffic segregation and inadequate communal facilities. Others include the lac!'. of defined criteria and basis of grouping industries, poor visual quality due to lack of landscaping and the wasteful use of land. Based on the analysis of the industrial areas some, principles and standards for industrial area planning were proposed. The standards have been proposed in the light of the existing situation and the present conditions and n e e d s of the industries. Principles on location, design, layout and grouping of industrial units have been proposed. Standards have also been derived on those aspects for which principles were derived. Standards were based on land requirements, intensity of development of land for particular industries and their scale of operation. Performance standards that is standards for measuring external nuisances produced by industries have also been proposed. The application of the principles and standards proposed has been demonstrated in 1ayout of an industrial area in Kaduna.