Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo has explained how the death of a child in a flood motivated his administration to embark on the construction of the 4.1 kilometres Ogheghe and old Sapele roads in Benin City.
DAILY POST reports that the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Dr Patrick Ebojele disclosed this on Sunday in a statement made available to newsmen in Benin- City.
Ebojele said the governor stated this during the unscheduled on-the-spot inspection of the roads after Church service.
He said the governor recalled that the 4.1-kilometre Ogheghe old Sapele road project was initiated following concerns raised by residents about erosion and safety.
“The reason we are doing this road is because we heard that a child died on this street arising from flooding and erosion menace affecting the community.
“The child was washed away by erosion from this site and that was the essence of our visit then”, he said.
Okpebholo, however, charged the contractors handling the project to fully utilize the dry season window to accelerate work on the roads.
He added that when they visited the site last time, people thought it would never be possible for his government to do the roads.
The Governor stated that the inspection was important for him to personally assess the progress of the road construction project.
He opined that the dry season presented a limited opportunity for the speedy delivery of the projects by the contractors.
“I have not been around here for some time. So coming today to look at this work and see what is going on is very important.
“Now that I’m here, I’ve seen the extent of what they are doing, and they are doing well. But I still need them to buckle up and be faster with the pace of work I’m seeing now. We just have about five months of the dry season.
“We are experiencing the dry season now. Apart from this time, there is no more time. We need to take advantage of the season now. So the speed has to be doubled”, he added.
While expressing satisfaction with the quality of work being done, the governor stressed that the pace must be increased to meet timelines.
The Governor, however, explained that the photographs taken during the inspection were meant to ensure compliance with approved specifications.
“The reason I snapped those pictures in one of the sections of the road is to see if what is on the ground matches the specification I have in my record”, he stated.
How death, erosion moved us to fix Ogheghe, old Sapele roads – Gov Okpebholo
