The Oyo State Govenor, Seyi Makinde, has on Monday flagged off the commencement of work on the Moniya-Iseyin road project, under less than two months after stopping the continuation of the project from the former contractor.
The 65 kilometer road project was initially awarded to Messrs Oladiran Tade and Engineering by the Ajimobi-led administration. The project is now re-awarded for N9.9b by the Makinde-led administration because of the “inefficiency, incapability and incompetence demonstrated by the initial contractor” in doing a satisfactory job on the road.
Makinde said, “We are doing a total reconstruction of the road. We are scrapping everything on that road, because that road is economically, one that will help improve our economy…it is linking the capital city to Oke Ogun and just less than one kilometre radius of the dry port. So, we want our infrastructure around that area to be economically viable.”
While addressing the large turnout of people in the axis, Governor Makinde said the project would be the standard of the type of road constructions his administration would embark upon during his tenure.
He noted that, part of the terms of the contract include increasing the asphaltic standard and thickness of the road, to make the road accessible for all kinds of articulated vehicles.
Makinde explained, “In terms of the designs for the road, we want to use it as a flagship of roads for Oyo State and a standard template. We asked that the asphalt thickness should be 50mm rather than the initial 40mm approved, so that it can take articulated vehicles and others in that axis.”
Makinde made it known that he had approved 60 per cent of the project cost be paid as mobilisation to the contractor. He also said that the focus of his administration in infrastructural development and improvement is to ensure that infrastructures promote economic well-being of the people and the state.
He stated, “We are paying 60 percent of the project cost upfront as mobilisation so that there won’t be any escalation of the project and so that the contractors can have everything that is required to move forward.”
The Governor however, urged the contractor handling the project to ensure that the company engages youths from the community in executing the project while also calling on the youths to cooperate with the contractor so that the project could be delivered in 12 months.
Earlier in his remark, the Commissioner for Public Works, Infrastructure and Transportation, Professor Rapheal Afonja, said the total reconstruction of the road would bring the much desired uplift to Oke-Ogun zone, the food basket of the state, in particular, and Nigeria in general.
Afonja noted that, “The project in its earlier conception by the last administration was for limited rehabilitation, it has now been upgraded to a total reconstruction, the asphaltic surfacing has been increased from 40mm to 50mm and the stone base from 150mm to 200mm to provide a more durable road that will stand the test of time.”
He added that provision had also been put in place for the inadequate drainage system that was observed in the initial design of the road.
The flag off which held at the Moniya end of the road project was attended by top government functionaries, traditional rulers, community leaders, trade groups and residents of the communities around the project site.
