Rehabilitation of Oye-Ikun-Otun Road.
Sir: Infrastructural development is one of the key components of the eight-point agenda of the Dr. Kayode Fayemi-led administration in Ekiti State. Under the infrastructural development plan, the administration hopes to establish optimum communities that will improve citizens’ lives and attract investments by 2014.
By 2014, the administration aims to make all parts of Ekiti State accessible by major roads and make water dams functional to increase water supply by 80 per cent public-private partnership for independent power projects.
On assumption of office on October 16, 2010, Governor Fayemi met a very lean purse and a mountain of debt left by the ousted administration which posed a serious challenge to delivering on his agenda.
In a bid to tackle the huge challenge, the administration approached the Capital Market and succeeded in getting N20 billion bond with the greater chunk of the money earmarked for road construction.
Many of the major roads in Ekiti – both federal and state – had fallen into state of disrepair owing to long years of neglect and shoddy jobs done by previous administrations.
Nearly two years after assuming office, the people of the state are now reaping dividends of democracy through massive construction and reconstruction of roads going on in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital and other parts of the state.
It is a common sight to see earth-moving machines like bulldozers, excavators, other heavy equipment and construction workers on the streets of Ado-Ekiti working assiduously to meet the deadlines given to them to deliver quality roads.
Basiri-Iyin Road, Fajuyi-Teaching Hospital Road, Ori Apata-Adebayo-Opopogbooro Road which lead to the main campus of the Ekiti State University are now wearing new look. The reconstruction of this important road is being done to the Iworoko-Ekiti end which leads to Ifaki-Ekiti to bring relief to commuters and motorists travelling to Kwara, Kogi, Abuja and other northern states.
Also experiencing transformation are Ilawe Road, Ijigbo and Ajilosun Road and the entire stretch of the highway which leads to Ikere-Ekiti, the second largest town in the state. Another talking point on the road revolution of the Fayemi administration is the construction of strong and quality road medians. The government is also construction drainages alongside the road projects to prevent flooding and make the roads last. Bridges along the roads are being reconstructed and widened to ensure free flow of traffic and tackle flooding.
The motorists plying Ado-Ikere-Akure Road are hailing the reconstruction work being done on one of the lanes of the busy highway which collapsed barely a year after it was constructed by a previous administration.
The icing on the cake of the Urban Renewal project of the Fayemi administration in the state capital is the dualisation of Old Garage-Ojumose Road and the dualisation of Atikankan-NITEL-Baptist Road.
Government has also awarded a N767 million contract to install streetlights on the major roads in Ado-Ekiti to boost nightlife, enhance visibility and security.
By Odunayo Ogunmola
Ado-Ekiti
This article was first published in The Nation on 9, August 2012.
Last modified: August 9, 2012
