18th July, 2017
The Federal Government has begun limited repair of the Benin-Ekpoma- Okene Road and will carry out full rehabilitation of the failed portions of the road after the rainy season.
Sen. Clifford Odia, Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Works, made the disclosure on Tuesday in Benin when he led members of the committee on a courtesy visit to Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo.
Odia said that work began on some portions of the road after the committee held a meeting with the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola.
According to Odia, complete rehabilitation of the road is captured in the 2017 Budget.
“We are in the state as part of our oversight function on federal government projects in the state.
‘’We visited the Ewu-Uromi-Agbor Road where about 50 per cent of the work has been done while the remaining 50 per cent will hopefully be completed soon,” he said.
Odia described the pace of the work as slow.
The vice chairman noted that the bad state of the road had made it record high rate of accidents.
The senator congratulated Gov. Obaseki for the affirmation of his election by the Supreme Court.
He expressed optimism that the governor would take the state to an enviable height.
Welcoming the committee members, Obaseki thanked them for mobilising contractors to fix the bad portions of federal roads in the state.
He said that the bad portions were death traps.
Obaseki said that Edo was strategically located in the country, and served as a major link to the north, east and some other parts of Nigeria.
He said that the state contributed immensely to national development.
The governor advocated the establishment of a special fund for maintaining federal roads.
Other senators on the delegation include Sen. Ben Bruce, Sani Mustapha and Kunle Ogunleye.