The Enugu State Government has approved N183 billion for the construction of 141 roads across the Enugu metropolis and 20 rural roads across the three senatorial zones of the state.

The state government has also approved the award of 133 more smart schools in addition to the ongoing 127 smart schools to bring them to 260 or one smart school per political ward.

The approvals were disclosed at the end of the State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Peter Mbah at the Government House, Enugu, at the weekend.

Briefing newsmen at the end of the meeting, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, said that the projects are in furtherance of Mbah’s determination to grow the state’s economy from $4.4 billion to $30 billion, achieve a zero per cent poverty headcount index, as well as position Enugu State as the premier destination for business, investment, tourism, and for living in four to eight years.

Onyia said: “Recall that before now, the state’s total budget hovered around N100 billion and N120 billion with capital expenditure of about N30 billion or capital expenditure to budget ratio of about 25 to 35 per cent.

“However, in keeping with the governor’s promise to de-risk investments, boost production, and run a lean and prudent government, the governor proposed an unprecedented N521.5 billion 2024 budget with a capital expenditure of over N400 billion, which is an equivalent of capital expenditure to the budget ratio of about 80 per cent and recurrent expenditure ratio of about 20 per cent.

“Accordingly, the government is doubling down on infrastructure. If you recall, we started with 71 urban roads and 10 rural roads last year. Now, the governor and the executive council have also approved 141 urban roads and 20 rural roads.

“It is noteworthy that although the rural roads are 20 in number, compared to 141 in Enugu metropolis, they are more, nearly three times those approved for Enugu urban in terms of kilometres.”