[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Delta State government is set to leverage on the fast approaching dry season to ensure the speedy completion of some of the ongoing federal road construction and rehabilitation projects embarked upon by the current administration.
Flanked by his Ministry of Information counterpart Mr Patrick Ukah, the Delta State Commissioner for Works, Mr. James Aguoye says the Ifeanyi Okowa led administration is keen at ensuring that the road projects are completed in record time which will help to beef up the social-economic life of Deltans, particularly the rural dwellers
The state of most federal owned roads are gradually turning into death-traps despite the billions of naira earmarked for their maintenance in the budget every year and consequently most of the people who bear the brunt of the negative effect of a bad road are usually residents in the states where these roads are located
One of such roads is the old Lagos Agbor road and the Ughelli-Asaba road at the verge of collapse caused by erosion.The State Commissioner for Works, James Aguoye acknowledged the need to fix and maintain these roads for the benefit of Deltans and others who ply the road.
“The old Lagos/Asaba road, Agbor, actually, it is a federal road which we (the delta state government) took over in 2009 is now being expanded from the initial 7.3 meters to a dual carriage way.
“As you can see, the bridge is almost being completed; again, there was a dire five from the federal ministry of transport that there would be a text run of the federal government rail by the end of this month. That is why we are working day and night to ensure that we meet the target.
“Once that is done, we are sure that the contractor handing the road would be ready to hand it over to the state government before the end of January, 2018”.
Their next point of call is the 1.175 kilometer cable point road dualisation which is fully completed and ready for commissioning
Other roads inspected are the 1.2kilometer Owa-Alidinma road project, Ute-Okpu/Owa Alero road project, the 24 kilometers Nsukwa/Ijeme Aliogor road project and the 5.4kilometers Owa Alero road dualisation.
He added that the current administration is taking the road construction and rehabilitation project very seriously as part of its deliberate determination in ensuring that all the rural areas are completely linked to the urban centres
“The administration of Ifeanyi Okowa is laying much emphasis on making life more comfortable for our people”.
In the recent past, state governments have asked the Federal Government to hand over some federal roads to the states since it appears that the government lacked the required funds to fix roads.