Minister of Works inspects roads in Oyo, tasks contractor to complete Oyo-Ogbomoso road October

Image caption: Minister of Works, Sen. David Umahi

Minister of Works, Umahi, tasks contractor to complete Oyo-Ogbomoso road dual carriageway October, as he inspects roads in Oyo state

Yinka ADETUNJI

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has charged contractors handling federal road projects in the state to ensure they deliver quality jobs.

Umahi gave the charge in Ibadan, Friday at the end of a two-day inspection tour of road projects in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the minister and his team inspected re-construction and expansion of section 11 of Lagos – Ibadan dual carriageway way and rehabilitation of 43.1 kilometre Ibadan – Oyo dualised road.

He also inspected the 52 kilometre Oyo – Ogbomoso dualisation project, Ibadan – Abeokuta single lane road project and 108 kilometre Ibadan – Ife – Ilesa dual carriageway, covering Oyo and Osun states.

The Minister commended Reynold Construction Company(RCC), the contractor handling Sagamu – Ibadan and Oyo – Ogbomoso dualisation road project, for doing a quality job so far.

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He however, pleaded with the company to speed up work and complete the project in October, ahead of the December scheduled completion time.

The State Controller of Works in the state, Kayode Ibrahim, while briefing the minister on the state of the project, being funded by Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) and Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), said it had reached 87.2 percent completion.

Ibrahim further informed Umahi that Oyo – Ogbomoso dual carriage way that was contracted to RCC in June 2010, had reached 80 percent completion.

The Chief Engineer of RCC, Fida Natour, promised that his company would deliver quality jobs on the two projects.

Natour appreciated the Federal Government and management of the Federal Ministry of Works for their support and timely release of funds for the projects.

The Minister, while assessing the level of work done so far on the 43.1 kilometre Ibadan – Oyo Road that was awarded to Arab Contractors Nig. Ltd in November 2022, directed the contractor to come up with another design of the road pavement.

He said that the contractor started well and urged the company to use concrete pavement for the job.

The General Manager of Arab Contractors Nig. Ltd, Mr Weal Favouk promised to abide with design specifications and schedule of the project.

Favouk, however, solicited the support of the ministry and prompt release of funds for the project .

The 43.1 kilometre road project is expected to be completed in 60 months.

On Ibadan – Abeokuta single lane rehabilitation project, the minister noted that the entire shoulder of the road had gone and that many portions of the road had failed.

He commended the state government for carrying maintenance work on the failed portions of the road.

“We are inspecting the rehabilitation of single lane of Ibadan – Abeokuta road, that is phase one of the project, because phase two is supposed to be the dualisation.

“The road started in 2010, with the Ibadan axis by Kopek Nigeria Limited. As we can see, the entire shoulders have gone totally.

“We have a lot of failures on the road, but I must commend the governor of Oyo state because I can see a lot of maintenance on the road,” he said.

The minister also said that Abeokuta section of the road in Ogun state had not been done by KOPEK because of funding.

“Now, what is to be done is that a number of sections of the pavement that have totally failed must be remedied.

“The entire stretch, up to 77 per cent need to be resurfaced with stone based asphalts and the road shoulders would be fixed with concrete pavement.

“In addition, the section of about 23 per cent on Abeokuta axis ought to be constructed,” he said.

The Minister and his team also inspected the Ibadan axis of the 108 kilometre Ibadan – Ife – Ilesha dual carriageway.

The Controller of Works told the Minister that Iwo Road section of the project was being funded under Sukuk intervention.

The Minister said funding challenges had delayed work on the project.

Umahi assured the contractor that the ministry would work towards resolving the funding issue affecting the progress of the project.

Among those in the entourage of the ministers were the Director, Federal Highways, South West, Adedamola Kuti; Director, Oyo State Controller of Works, Kayode Ibrahim and his Ogun counterpart, Forosola Oloyede.