Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun has blamed the Federal Government for the delay in the reconstruction of the Abeokuta-Ota-Lagos expressway.
Abiodun in conjunction with his Lagos State counterpart, Babajide Sanwo-Olu had pleaded to take over the construction of the road, but the requests were rebuffed by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
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But, last year, the Minister of Works, David Umahi, during a briefing after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Aso Villa, announced that the Federal Government had finally concessioned the road to the Ogun State Government to reconstruct.
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The reconstruction was to be carried out under the Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI), with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and the Federal Ministry of Finance to be involved in the process.
But, more than three months after the Federal government’s approval, the State government had refused to commence the reconstruction of the road.
Abiodun said the initial cost to reconstruct the road was about N70 billion, “but now it would be in the region of N150 billion or more due to the high cost of Asphalt, diesel and cement as a result of inflation”.
The governor attributed the delay to the Federal government’s refusal to complete the concessioning process.
The governor who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media, Kayode Akinmade on Monday said, although there is presidential approval for the concessions, there is no extract from the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approving the concessioning.
Abiodun insisted that, the procedure for the concessioning is not complete without FEC’s extract paper.
The governor noted that after deliberation and approval, the FEC will issue an extract from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), transferring the road to the Ogun State Government.
He said the State government is waiting anxiously for the FEC’s nod to proceed with the project.
He added that, the FEC extract is needed to raise funds for the project and also discuss with investors.
The state Commissioner for Works, Ade Akinsanya had earlier said the state administration had been providing palliatives to make the roughly 70km road manageable for motorists.
“Ogun State has been rehabilitating the road since 2019. We keep doing palliative work because the governor is always concerned about the suffering being experienced by the people. He remained concerned about the deplorable state of the road until he got what he wanted from the federal government.
“With the transfer done now, we are happy and ready to immediately take over the project and turn around the fortunes of the road. It’s what we’ve been looking for, and praying for since we came on board. We will take over immediately, subject to paperwork between us and the federal ministry,” he had said
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