Edo rehabilitates roads with N100 million ahead of rainy season


AS a palliative for road-users with the onset of the rainy season, the Edo State Rapid Response Agency, has intensified efforts at rehabilitating dilapidated inter-city roads in which not less than N100 million has been spent. Some of the fixed roads include Golf Course Annex, Ikpokpan Road, Akenzua Street, Ewasede Street among others while major earth roads are also being sand-filled and graded.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Agency on Media, Austin Braimah, told journalists that despite the huge amount of money required in carrying out total reconstruction of intra -city roads, the government embarked on palliative measures to reduce the challenges of commuters in the city centre and appealed to residents to be patient with the state government as more roads had been listed for attention, depending on the availability of funds.

He said the agency had taken extra measures to ensure that the rehabilitated roads stand the test of time, adding that concrete slab had been constructed in areas that were prone to serious flooding.

“The people must first appreciate the efforts of government in addressing the challenges of fixing these roads. It is the wish of government to do total reconstruction than fixing potholes if the resources are available. We are not unmindful of the fact that these roads may fail after some time and that is why we insist on quality work. And that is why it is called palliatives.”

He, however, identified obsolete equipment inherited by the agency as one of the challenges as “we had to hire equipment from other engineering firms when we discovered that the cost of repairs was on the high side,” he noted.