Ekiti State Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project has disbursed N71.48million to owners of properties acquired for the building of 12 road projects.
The beneficiaries are farmers and other Project Affected Persons (PAP), whose properties will be demolished for the construction of road projects across the state.
The State Project Coordinator, Sunday Adunmo, who disclosed this yesterday, said the compensation was a step towards fostering good relationship between the government and residents.
He said site clearing had been completed on 12 roads, adding that there was delay in payment of compensation to farmers on Igbole-Egan-Osi-Iropora road, following the need for revalidation of PAP, hence the inability of the contractor to begin bush clearing.
The coordinator said progress report on the 13 roads showed percentages of work done by each of the contractors.
He hailed the contractors handling Oye-Are road and Ben Folarin-Omisanjana-Oke Aso road for their work pace, which had reached concrete works, hoping that the former might be completed within 12 months, should the contractor continue work at that fast pace.
Adunmo said there was no room for shoddy jobs, as the ongoing construction works were being monitored by the Project Monitoring Committee and agencies of government in charge of project monitoring.
Speaking about the economic benefits of the project, he said the contractors were employing skilled and unskilled labour from the project benefitting communities.
He added that the contractors had been mandated to procure materials that were available in the state, to boost the economy and curb capital flight
Adunmo, who said more road projects would be awarded in a couple of weeks, disclosed that five pilot roads initiated by the Project in 2021 would be revisited for upgrading
Culled from The Nation Newspaper
Road network: Ekiti pays N71.48m compensation to property owners