Fayemi restates commitment to quality roads in Ekiti

Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to infrastructure development in the state.Speaking during an inspection tour of the new asphalt processing plant in Ado Ekiti on Thursday, Dr. Fayemi said the plant would enable the state’s Public Works Corporation (PWC) effectively attend to road mending and reconstruction.

The governor said his government would no longer contract out all road maintenance works, as the PWC was better equipped to carry out road maintenance, even as the corporation had begun the rehabilitation of Ado township roads and fixing of drains in the capital city. Fayemi said the PWC leadership had demonstrated drive and commitment, taking advantage of the dry season and the new 20-tonne per hour asphalt plant to ensure that the roads were pothole-free.

He bemoaned the failure of the immediate past government to make good use of the equipment when he left office in 2014, saying that the abandonment of the equipment led to the loss of some crucial parts, which his administration just procured again.

Assuring that his administration would support the PWC such that it could be a private sector on its own to ensure its sustainability, he added, “When the philosophy changes, it embraces not just modern equipment but modern ways of doing things because government cannot always be a permanent problem-solver.”He disclosed plans to expand the plant to a 100-tonne asphalt plant to supply contractors handling various road projects in the state as well as contractors in neighbouring states.

The State Transition Law being put in place, according to him, will guarantee its sustainability, so that his successor can build on this rather than seeing it as a ‘Fayemi’ project.

“My vision is that it will not produce asphalt just for our own local use. We will be able to make it a 100-tonne plant, so that outsiders who are in the state to construct roads can get aggregates and asphalt from here. Sometimes they go as far as Delta to get asphalt. There is no reason going that far, if we can produce from here and they can get it from us. That increases the sustainability of the corporation itself,” he stated.

He disclosed plans to construct ring roads totalling about 111km to serve as alternative exit roads for Ado Ekiti, which he described as a growing urban city.

The ring roads, he noted, would link the proposed rail project, the knowledge city and the airport.He indicated that the state government would re-visit Omisanjana-Ajebamidele Road, which was abandoned midway, as soon as state resources improve.