The Presidency has described the recent failure on the Benin-Agbor-Asaba Expressway as an isolated incident, saying the Federal Government responded swiftly by deploying key stakeholders to the affected section and demanding immediate action from the contractor.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, stated this on Channels Television on Wednesday while reacting to the condition of the highway and President Bola Tinubu’s directive for its redesign and total reconstruction.
Dare said the incident should not be used to assess the state of road projects across the country, noting that several other federal roads had been completed or were progressing without similar complaints.
“I think that first, these are isolated cases. And we all know by the nature of road construction, during rainy season, you encounter problems like this,” he said.
He said the government had a responsibility to identify roads requiring repairs and provide funding, while contractors were expected to execute the projects properly.
“Whatever played out yesterday, we had all the stakeholders there. And it’s important that even the contractor came out, even though he gave excuses, it showed a failure on their part,” Dare said.
His comments came a day after the Minister of Works, David Umahi, inspected the troubled Benin-Agbor-Asaba road in Edo State and apologised to commuters over its condition.
Umahi took responsibility for the state of the highway and condemned the concessionaire handling its reconstruction, while directing moves towards the total reconstruction of the road after concluding that palliative measures would not be sufficient.
When The PUNCH visited the Benin axis of the Benin-Agbor-Asaba road on Tuesday, the highway was found to be in a poor condition, although the gridlock that had persisted for about two weeks had eased.
Dare said the rapid intervention by the Works Minister, National Assembly members and other stakeholders demonstrated the government’s response to infrastructure challenges.
“Government has a responsibility to identify the roads that need to be fixed. Government has a responsibility to provide the funding. And then, the next responsibility goes to the contractors to do what is necessary.
“What we saw yesterday, the Minister, the National Assembly members, and other key stakeholders going there in record time, right on the spot. And I think that’s what good governance is about, responding as quickly and as swiftly as possible, putting the blame where it is, and requesting for immediate action,” he said.
When The PUNCH visited the Benin axis of the Benin-Agbor-Asaba road on Tuesday, the highway was found to be in a poor condition, although the gridlock that had persisted for about two weeks had eased.
Dare said the rapid intervention by the Works Minister, National Assembly members and other stakeholders demonstrated the government’s response to infrastructure challenges.
“Government has a responsibility to identify the roads that need to be fixed. Government has a responsibility to provide the funding. And then, the next responsibility goes to the contractors to do what is necessary.
“What we saw yesterday, the Minister, the National Assembly members, and other key stakeholders going there in record time, right on the spot. And I think that’s what good governance is about, responding as quickly and as swiftly as possible, putting the blame where it is, and requesting for immediate action,” he said.
“I said these are isolated, but we have quite a number of other roads where there are no complaints, where the roads have been fixed,” Dare said.
He further defended the pace of ongoing road projects across the country, saying motorists would have to endure some inconveniences while construction work progresses.
According to him, he recently travelled along the Abuja-Lokoja corridor with about 65 journalists and observed completed sections of the road, including stretches where concrete construction was ongoing.
“A 100% solution, and I… you know, solutions are progressive,” Dare said.
He explained that road projects were often constructed in sections, meaning motorists might temporarily use older portions of a highway while completed sections were brought into service.
“It’s like a house construction; a house is not built in a day, it’s progressive. Until the roof comes on, the rain will still pour down on the building,” he said.
Dare said the Federal Government was currently undertaking major road projects across the country, including five legacy roads and about 320 roads nationwide.
He said the scale of the projects reflected Tinubu’s focus on infrastructure development, while crediting the Works Ministry with implementing the administration’s road construction programme.
“Is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on top of what’s happening? Absolutely,” Dare said. “We’re talking about 5 legacy roads; we’re talking about 320 roads across the length and breadth of our country.”
The Federal Government’s renewed attention to the Benin-Agbor-Asaba corridor followed complaints over worsening road conditions that have disrupted transportation, damaged vehicles and increased the cost of movement and doing business along the route.
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