Akeredolu To Construct 700km Rural Roads To Boost Economy

Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has concluded plans to construct 700 kilometres of rural roads across the 18 local government areas of the state to boost economic prosperity of the state.

The governor disclosed this at the weekend through his special adviser on rural and community development, Hon. Kolawole Babatunde (Amaechi) at an interactive session with Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ondo State.

He said the construction of the rural roads would ensure the rapid transformation to the rural communities across the state.

The governor said the 700 kilometres road would be constructed under Rural Access and Marketing Project (RAAMP), a World Bank-assisted programme.

According to him, the road construction will be carried out in phases and be funded through the World Bank and the state counterpart fund.

He said the state government keyed into RAAMP for ease of transporting agricultural products and to prevent frequent spoilage of farm produce.

According to him, revamping rural roads would help to reduce issues of food scarcity and grant access to the rural parts of the state for marketing and farming activities.

His words, “This project will be broken down based on the roads we are intervening in and we’ve gotten about €3.5 million and about $500,000. This is aside from the N1.4 billion governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has released as a counterpart fund to us.

“The way it works is that the funding has to get approval from the World Bank. We write to them stating the roads we are intervening in, the cost, then the World Bank will approve.”

He said since Akeredolu’s inauguration as governor, he has continued to show uncommon commitment to his pact with the people to ensure the transformation of the rural areas of the state through the Directorate of Rural and Community Development and the two World Bank-assisted Agencies under the directorate: the Ondo State Community and Social Development Agency (ODCSDA) and the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP).