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From Tony Osauzo and Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
The Edo State Government announced yesterday that it plans to construct 3, 100 kilometres of road in the next 30 years at an average of 105 kilometres of road every year for the next decade, subject to the availability of funds.
The state Commissioner for Roads and Bridges, Mr. Newton Okojie, who announced this while addressing journalists in Benin City, disclosed that the government has awarded a total of 886 kilometres Road for construction since the inception of the Governor Godwin Obaseki administration in 2016.
He explained that 546 of the 886 kilometres of road had since been completed and being put to use across the state, adding that the press conference became necessary due to the pocket of protests that engulfed the state in recent times on the deplorable state of roads in some areas.
Okojie, therefore called on the people of the state to show understanding on the various road construction works going on, attributing the delay in the completion of the works to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and lately by the rains, even as he reiterated the commitment of the sate government to leave a solid infrastructural development template by the end of the tenure of the present administration.
“During the electioneering, Governor Godwin Obaseki, presented his agenda and roadmap of Making Edo Great Again, which we have christened a MEGA Agenda. One of the principal focus of these agenda is infrastructural development; the dream is to make Edo state the preferred destination for work and living by 2050.
“I want reassure the people of Edo state that the governor remains focus and 100 per cent committed to make the dream come true.
“A study carried out by one of our consultants in 2016 showed that Edo has about 9700 kilometres of roads cutting across its landscape; and going by the rate communities are expanding today and selling lands, we know that figure would have increased by now.
“Out of the 9700 kilometres, about 2700 kilometres are paved; the remaining 7000 kilometres are unpaved.
“Also, there is a total length of about 763 kilometres of Federal roads in Edo, all of which are paved. I am giving this information to give the public a glimpse of the enormity of the size of the challenge facing the state in having to construct an outstanding of 7000 kilometres length of road.
“When we came on board, the first task the governor gave us was to come up with a plan to close the infrastructural deficit as regards roads in the state.”
