Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo has reiterated his administration’s continued efforts to reconstruct and repair failed portions of the federal highways in the state in order to allay the suffering of the people.
He made the promise when he visited the Ogheghe–Ologbo axis of the Benin–Sapele Road.
The section of the highway had become almost unmotorable after the bypass, drawing widespread concern from motorists and residents.
He explained that after the major interventions on the federal roads by the state government, he will approach the Federal Government for reimbursement of funds spent, stressing that he cannot sit back and continue to allow the daily carnage on major federal highways, which the previous administration refused to handle in the State.
The governor, while inspecting the road, expressed dismay at its deplorable state.
“You can see for yourself how terrible this place is. This place looks as if there has never been a government here ever. The PDP government, to me, is going to be blamed for this. On Saturday, a trailer fell and got burnt here. A lot of people lost their properties around here as a result of that. So today, I have come to see for myself what actually happened. The road is terribly bad.
“I think the best way to go is the way we are going now; to fix this road by ourselves and later revert to the Federal Government for reimbursement. What we are doing is to keep this place safe for our people to ply. The contractor is working despite today being Sunday,” Okpebholo said.
In her remarks, the Special Adviser on Project Implementation and Monitoring, Engr. Mrs. Williams Bello, explained that the 10.15-kilometre section was recently handed over to the Edo State Government by the Federal Ministry of Works when the Minister of Works visited the State.
“You can see that our Governor is being proactive. The contractor, who was already handling 23.2 kilometres of the project, is now extending work to this newly conceded section. In the middle of the road, they are already excavating for the drains.
“This area has unsuitable materials that cannot absorb water. So, a major drainage channel, about 7.5 metres wide is being constructed to carry storm water towards the bypass where there will be a discharge point. Since we are now in the dry season, the contractor will be able to build up the road profile and lay the stone base,” Bello said.
General Manager of CBC Global Construction Company, Mr. Liao, said the firm had made significant progress on the ongoing 23.2-kilometre reconstruction work.
“For now, we have achieved almost 8 kilometres of stone base and 5 kilometres of Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (CRCP). After this bypass, we have about 7 kilometres by the right-hand side to complete.
“The major challenge before now was rainfall. But now that the rains have stopped, we are working on excavating the drainage in between to channel water out. Once that is done, everything will be much easier. I can assure you, and I believe this project could be completed before the next rainy season,” he said.