Rural communities in Edo, beneficiaries of road project – Fashola

The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola on Monday said that rural communities along the Benin-Auchi-Okene road were benefiting from ongoing dualisation of road in Edo.

Fashola made this known while inspecting road project in the state.

He stated that president Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to infrastructural development was aimed at distributing wealth to the rural people.

“As you can see from the first contractor’s brief, the company has employed about 404 direct and about 2,020 indirect workers.

“It may also interest you to know that materials being used for the construction work are sourced locally

“We are on the Benin-Auchi-Okene road; it leads the South to North. We are trying to add another lane of about 254km.

“Construction of the road will take some time because of funding and logistics challenges; so, the road will not be built at the snap of the fingers

“Our strategy is that whether we finish or not, we want to see what we can do differently in 2020 that is why we are here.

“Hopefully, there will be more SUKUK funds to ensure that the project is completed to ease movement,’’ he said.

The minister said government was achieving the main objective of saving lives and property by the intervention on the project.

“l am told that during the yuletide no life was lost on the Ewu hill (road) which used to be accident prone area,’’ he added.