Date: 2016-11-15

The decrepit condition of some roads within Ilorin metropolis elicited concern among motorists, other road users and residents of the city in recent time and ostensibly provoked certain belief in some quarters whether government had abdicated one of its basic responsibilities. AHMED 'LATEEF writes on the current efforts by the Kwara State government to make all roads motorable and connect sleepy rural areas to urban centres.

For motorists and other road users in Kwara State, especially in the capital city of Ilorin, a day would not pass in the past few weeks without dwelling on a nightmarish situation. Plying on some roads within the metropolis was hellish. From Tanke to Offa, Ilorin General Hospital to University of Ilorin Mini Campus, Adewole to Olorunshogo and Sobi Junction to Akerebiata, the situation is better left than imagine.

A first time visitor to Ilorin from the Northern part upon his arrival in the city en-route Akerebiata might also be made to believe that all roads in the state are in deplorable conditions.

The roads were riddled by potholes, thus leading to anxiety and unending disbelief among residents also of any possible sigh of relief in sight.

The situation largely became manifest due to unavailability of funding. No thanks to the descent monthly allocation to the state from the federation purse, which has gone all time low in the history of the state.

As telltale of the allocation drop rages, it was not only road sector that was ensnared in the financial mess, other crucial sectors also got its fair share and the situational problem became frightened and alarming.

Being a government that is responsive to yearning and aspiration of the people, the present administration of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed formulated a policy to make the financial problem less thorny on the state. The government strengthened its internally generated revenue and opened a new financial window to address infrastructural deficit bedeviling state under the acronym IF-K. With the financial initiative, a sum of N500million will be set aside monthly from the revenue generated, to fund key projects as a measure to cushion the inadequate cash flow from the federation coffers.

Beside the IF-K that has become a household name, the government also commissioned asphalt plant recently in the bid to quickly fix damaged roads across the state.

Some of the roads that were deplorable conditions particularly with the state capital are receiving attention. Tanke to Ilorin General Hospital road, which hitherto hindered free vehicular movement as a result of dilapidated state, had now wore new look with motorists plying the roads without any fear that initially pervaded everywhere.

While the roads are undergoing repair through Kwara State Road Maintenance Agency (KWARMA), the state Ministry of Works also walked the talk of the state government with award and inspection of road projects in the state.

In his avowed commitment to link rural areas to urban centres with a view to putting a stop to incessant rural-urban drift, Governor Ahmed early last year, flagged off the construction of Arobadi/Megida road in Moro Local Government Area of the state. The 15.5kilometres road, which began from Arobadi, a village near Alapa in Asa Local Government Area, stretched to Ipaye and some other villages until the very end in Megida. The road in a very sleepy and remote area would have been forgotten but for foresight and dexterity of the present administration at tapping untapped potential.

Dwellers of Arobadi village heaved some relief with a kilometre of the road already asphalted from the village while some major work had also been done to ensure that motorists who usually spent two hours reaching Mediga from Arobadi, now spend less than 30minutes on the road.

The state Commissioner for Works, Alhaji Aro Yahaya, at the weekend led top officials of the Ministry to inspect the road to access the level of work done. This is just as the Commissioner had also inspected some ongoing road projects in the state.

The Managing Director, Chelfom Engineering and Construction Company, Yorgy Mastori, who conducted Yahaya on the 15.5kilometres road, informed that all earth work as well as one kilometre of asphalt overlay had been done on the road.

Mastori, who told the team that funding has been regular on the project, said the projection of his construction firm was to complete it latest by September next year, just as thanked the state government for not reneging on its promise to see the road completed.

"We started 15.5kilometres Arobadig/Megida road project in January, 2016. We have done about 40 percent of the project. We have done all the earth works and all the concrete has been and completed, and we have done one kilometre of asphalt so far. We know that hopefully by September we should be out of this place.

"Payment has been coming regularly and we are always on site. Before we started this project, people spent two to three hours moving on the road, just to navigate through Alapa. Even there was a place the road was cut off completely. They had to go and take another route to get back to the main road. But now in the next few minutes, they can get to the other end of the road at Megida.

"We want to appreciate the seriousness and commitment of the state government about the project, and the instruction given to us is that we should not leave the site till this job is over, and that is what we are intending to do", he said.

While being conducted various sections of the road, the Commissioner asked the contractor to widen some portions that were susceptible to flooding.

Yahaya said the intention of the government was to see that all road projects are delivered in good time and of high quality, explaining that the projects were being executed through tax-payers money.

He warned that any contractor that carried out shoddy job will not only be blacklisted but also cease receiving any further financial commitment from the state government.

Yahaya, who expressed satisfaction with the pace of work on Arobadi/Megida road, also urged the contractor to sustain the tempo and make amends where necessary in order to deliver quality project.

"In what we have seen, from the beginning to the end, the contractor has done a very good job, and we believe that he is going to sustain the tempo in terms of quality of job he has started doing. And from the government side, we are not going to disappoint him in the area of funding.

"But I want to assure all our contractors engaged by government that monitoring of government's projects is a continuous exercise. And any contractor, whoever he is, that does a shoddy job will not finding it lightly with us. All shoddy contractors will be treated with what they deserved. We are going to blacklist them and we are not going to pay them.

"We implore all contractors to be more committed and diligent with the jobs we have given them because these jobs are being paid from tax payers fund", the Commissioner noted.

Some villagers, who spoke to The Herald, appreciated the government for the project, describing it as a timely intervention.

A resident of Arobadi village, Taiye Komolafe, said "We are very glad that the government came to our aid to build this road. But in recent times, we discovered that the length of the asphalting done on the road was very short. We wondered why it has to be shortened like that. We had wanted to inquire but we could not communicate the white people that are building the road.

"We are happy that the project has been well done so far, because prior to the time the project commenced, we used to spend up to one and half hours to reach Megida, but in less than 30minutes now, you can arrive Megida from Arobadi.

Similarly, Mrs Sifau Faruk could not hide her joy when said, "We are happy about the ongoing project, but we want to plead with the contractor to erect bumps on the road to curtail over-speeding by motorists and users alike who ply the road. They are causing us a lot of trouble on this road".

It will be recalled that the Commissioner and his team had visited some ongoing projects too where he assured that the inspection will be a continuous exercise as part of effort to ensure value for money on the projects executed.