Kayode Fasua in Abeokuta
The Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, yesterday assured road users in the state that the next fiscal year would be dedicated to eliminating all potholes on township roads across the state.
He said this is besides other developmental programmes earmarked by his administration for the fiscal year.
Abiodun gave the assurance in Abeokuta while appraising the 2020 proposed expenditure of the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure on the 2020 Budget. The governor particularly vowed to maintain “a policy of zero tolerance for potholes on township roads across the state from the next fiscal year.”
According to him, “No stone will be left unturned at ensuring that we place maximum premium on road rehabilitation within the state going forward.” He said his administration would not be defined as an administration that allowed potholes to take over its township roads, adding that the issue of bad roads across the state would be phased out as work had begun with the most specific ones.
Some of the roads earmarked for rehabilitation, according to him, include Abeokuta South and North township roads, Akute, Ifo, Ewekoro,Odeda, Obafemi Owode-Egba and Mowe-Ibafo township roads in the Ogun Central senatorial district.
Others are Ijebu-Ode-Ago-Iwoye, Ijebu-Igbo, Ogbere-Iperu-Sagamu, Ogijo, Odogbolu up to Remo township roads in Ogun East; Sango-Ota, Igbesa,
Ado-Odo, Agbara, Ilaro-Owode-Yewa, Aiyetoro, Imeko up to Idiroko township roads in Ogun West.
“We are paying attention to township roads, and the idea is to begin to phase potholes out and we’ve begun by choosing those that are most strategic, those that we believe have impacted on our people the most.
“If indeed we are going to be serious about attracting investments to Ogun State, it is important that our township roads and our connecting roads between the state and border states are in conditions that will facilitate people to move in and out of the state with relative ease,” he said.
The governor added that his administration had come to terms with the fact that one of the major projects that could aid the economic development of the people was the rehabilitation of township roads that will in turn facilitate the movement of goods and services from hinterlands to the market as well as the movement of people around the state.
In his defence, the consultant to the Governor on Works and Infrastructure, Ade Akinsanya, disclosed that the ministry was looking at new technologies that would aid the rehabilitation of roads in the state, adding that the target of the ministry regarding making the roads motorable was to achieve rehabilitation and construction works estimated to be between 250 and 300 kilometres.
In his contribution, the Chief Economic Adviser the governor, Mr. Dapo Okubadejo, noted that Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is key to realising the overall development of the state of infrastructure in the state.
He contended that it is important for the state to also look at cheaper ways of delivering infrastructure.
