World Bank and agency collaborate to repair Ogun roads

Please share this story:

The World Bank and the French Development Agency have collaborated with the government of Ogun State for the construction and rehabilitation of rural roads in the state.

The project was to provide upgrading of 125 km of rural roads, rehabilitation/maintenance of arrears of 200 km, spot improvement of 450 km, routine maintenance of 700 km of roads and the construction of 100 m of cross-drainage structures (culverts and bridges).

National Coordinator of the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project, Aminu Mohammed, who spoke through the project's Principal Infrastructure Engineer, Buka Abdulaziz, revealed during a stakeholder workshop on finalizing legislation on the establishment of the Rural Access Road Agency and the State Road Fund, held in Abeokuta, the state capital.

Mohammed said the project is being implemented under the state rural access and agricultural marketing project and the state ministry of rural development to reform all roads rural areas of the state.

He said the plan for the program was quality assurance, promising there would be no compromise.

He explained that RAAMP is a third generation rural access project whose objective is to improve rural access and agricultural commercialization in participating states.

He added that the project would also strengthen the financial and institutional basis for effective development, maintenance and management of the rural road network.

He said, "We have developed specifications for rural roads, we have also developed a standard. On top of that, also under this program, we have what's called a quality assurance plan and a quality assurance manual, so rest assured, the program is going to provide an all-weather road, and the quality will not be compromised.

“Sustainability, on the other hand, has to come through sustainable financing, and we are looking at that, how the private sector, road users, can also come to play a role in the management of maintenance and development of rural roads in Ogun State, so that at least the embodiment of road users and the private sector can also raise their hands.

"We will complement the government's effort because, we know that the government now has an outsized need that has to do with health needs and other basic amenities, they may even change the policies, but overall, sustainable finance, the private sector also needs to step in, that's thinking and part of the reform."

State Commissioner for Rural Development, Jamiu Odetoogun, revealed that the state will use the interventions that he says will facilitate the transportation system of rural communities.

He added that commendable efforts and mercenaries will be deployed to quickly meet the challenges of bad roads on rural roads.

He said: "It is undeniable that a greater percentage of our rural roads are such that they could call for different interventions that will alleviate the difficulties faced by our rural inhabitants on the roads and will improve the ease of transportation of agricultural products from farms to market and to urban communities.”

Also speaking, State Transport Commissioner Gbenga Dairo pleaded for more attention to be given to rural roads in the state, saying it is 'state-critical economic development.

He added that the intervention is important to enter the agenda of the administration.

He said, "So this program is important, it is interesting and it would be key to the agenda of Prince Dapo Abiodun's administration."