The Federal Government has implored Oyo State Government to stop giving approval for erection of buildings and other structures on the right-of-way of the Oyo-Ogbomosho highway.
Mr Funsho Adebiyi, the Director of Highways, Federal Ministry of Works, made the appeal on Saturday, January 16, 2021 in Oyo town.
He said this while addressing newsmen after an inspection tour of the 53-kilometre Oyo-Ogbomosho dual carriageway, which is under construction.
Adebiyi, who was accompanied by the Oyo State Controller of Works in the Ministry, Mr. Kayode Ibrahim, explained that there was no building at the initial stage of designing the road.
“But as soon as the work started, structures started emerging on the road’s right of ways and they are now asking us for compensation.
“This is not right, state government should please have mercy on us and stop approving structures on our right of ways, where they know our men are working because it is creating problem for us.
“Also, the state government should stop giving approval for illegal mining along our alignment,” he said.
He decried the sand mining activities on the road alignment, saying these had been making earth-work difficult on the road construction.
“What we could have used as earth-work have been mined off and we were forced to bring in materials from another borrowed pit to fill the already mined alignment.
“So, the cost of haulage is increasing the cost of our construction work.
“On the main alignment there were present of rock that needed to be evacuated through blasting but couldn’t do that because of closeness of the structures.
“Such structures can collapse and kill its occupants if we carry out the blasting. So, we have to use other expensive technique to blast the rock,” he said.
The road is second section of Ibadan-Ilorin road.
It is a subsection of a major trunk A1 road which originated from Apapa Wharf in Lagos and terminates at Sokoto State.
The construction of the road is being handled by Reynolds Construction Company.
The Federal Executive Council, in the last quarter of 2020, had approved augmentation of the road’s initial contract sum from N47.50 billion to N105.04 billion, as a result of adjustment in the scope of work.
The director said that the percentage work done presently was 40 due to the recent review of the road work which resulted to the augmentation approval by the Federal Executive Council.
According to him, the initial scope of the project was review by FEC, the review of the scope now reduces the percentage of work done from about 76 per cent to 40 per cent, because the volume of work has been increased.
He expressed satisfaction over the work done so far on the road, saying it is of high quality and could stand the test of time.
The director gave assurance that Federal Government was committed to speedy completion of the road and other ongoing road projects across the country, adding that RCC was making steady progress on Oyo-Ogbomosho road.
He said those who were saying that Federal Government was not doing anything on the road should try to visit the site to see things.
According to him, massive work is ongoing and expressed optimism that the road would be completed as scheduled.
By Grace Alegba and David Adeoye
