THE Edo Government has approved the construction of 60 roads across the 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state to open up the rural communities for business activities.

Gov. Godwin Obaseki, disclosed this while inspecting the ongoing road projects at Ogunmwenyin community, near Benin on Wednesday.

Obaseki, represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr Taiwo Akerele, said that the approved road projects were semi-rural/urban roads, ranging from one kilometre to 1.5 kilometre long.

He said that the infrastructural development strides of the present administration would create jobs and alleviate poverty in the state.

The governor said that 7,000 youths would be engaged during construction of the approved roads.

“The effort is geared towards deepening the spread of economic enablers to engender development and improve the livelihoods of the people, especially the agrarian communities,” he said.

The governor noted that those in the agrarian communities needed good roads to move their produce to the cities for sale.

He said the inspection of the roads in Ogunmwenyin was to ensure that the contractors handling the projects worked in accordance with specifications.

“The communities where roads are being constructed must ensure that the projects are protected.

“The state government will sign a Community Action Agreement (CAA) with communities where projects are sited.

“Failure to ensure the protection of the projects will mean that no additional projects will be sited in such places,” Obaseki said.

He added: “We are not only interested in building infrastructure in the state but also in developing human capacity.

“We have created 188 direct jobs through the construction of the one kilometre road in Ogunmwenyin community,” Obaseki said.

Also speaking, Dr Samuel Uwadia, the Odionwere of Ogunmwenyin community, lauded the efforts of the state government on road construction.

“This will improve the lives of the people and business activities.

“We hope more roads will be constructed in the communities to connect them to other areas of the state,” he said.

– Apr. 11, 2018 @ 17:55 GMT |

BE