Osun State Governor Gboyega Oyetola has approved the construction of a 54.3km road project across the state, The Nation report.
At a joint news briefing in Osogbo, the Commissioner for Works and Transport, Mr. Remi Omowaye, and the Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mrs. Funke Egbemode, said the projects are five major roads.
They said that the governor gave approval for the projects after the weekly state Executive Council meeting on Monday.
Omowaye, who said the road rehabilitation and construction works would soon start, added that the massive projects spread across the three senatorial districts of the state would gulp N5,245,729,794.95.
He said the road would decongest traffic within and outside Osogbo and make life easier for the residents, particularly motorists.
Omowaye said that as a responsive administration, the government decided to embark on the road rehabilitation and construction to mitigate residents’ hardship.
He said the roads when completed would drive and reposition the economy of the state and attract investment to the state.
Breaking down the road projects, Omowaye said that the government would spend N1,569,734,774.00 for the construction and rehabilitation of Ada-Igbajo 13.15km Road, N644,734,203.03 to fix the 2.87km Akindeko-Awosuru Link Road via Adejumo Street and Oremeji, Akinlade, Adewale Street down to WAEC Road.
He said that N1,656,963,889.47 would be expended on the rehabilitation/complete overlay of 25.8km Army Barack (Ede) -Ara-Ejigbo Township Road and N835,138,000.54 for the rehabilitation and complete overlay of 8.10km Moro-Yakoyo-Ipetumodu-Asipa-Ife/Ibadan Expressway Junction Road.
He added that the rehabilitation/complete overlay of 4.38km Ereja Round-About-Ereguru-Isaare-Oke Oye-Sabo (Irojo)-Ilesa/Akure Expressway Junction would cost N539,158,927.91.
The commissioner said the project would be financed through a ‘Contractor-Financing Project’ under the Alternative-Project-Funding-Approach (APFA.)
He said: “We are doing about five roads because this is not the first road. Since we came in, we have done about 10 township roads, but this is another phase of road project that we are working on.
“We picked these roads to bring succour to the people. These are the roads that will add economic value to the people. We have factored in necessary things required to ensure quality and standard roads.
“As we all know, the governor has said it clearly that he is going to run a participatory government. So, we carefully looked at the report carried out by the DFID Needs Assessment and the report of the Mr. Governor ‘Thank You’ tour, and based on that, we selected the roads that our people wanted us to do.”
The Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation said that the project would be completed within 12 months.
She said the Gboyega Oyetola administration would continue to ensure good governance and make people enjoy the dividends of democracy.
