Ondo State Government has begun the construction of roads in the rural areas in the three senatorial districts of the state, under the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project.
It was gathered that the project which was launched on Friday by the state governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, was to ease transportation of farm produce to the urban centres and would gulp a sum of N1.2billion.
At the launching of the project at Oda Community in the Akure South Local Government Area of the state, Governor Aiyedatiwa said the project was part of the government’s commitment to the development of rural communities in the state.
According to him, the road project would kick off with the construction of 15.5km long and will cut across Oda Cocoa Board – Camp 2 – Lagbido road in the local government.
He said, “From the inception of our administration, we made deliberate efforts to put in place several life-changing programmes and projects geared towards improving the livelihood and living standard of our teeming farming population.
“It was our resolve that the government needed to do more in the rural areas of Ondo State and I am glad that the road project being flagged is not only fulfilling this position but marking the commencement of the construction of several rural roads by RAAMP.
“Let me reiterate our commitment to the development of the grassroots and by extension the people of Ondo State, I am using this medium to assure you that we shall continue to embark on more developmental projects for the benefit of our people.”
In his remarks, the state project coordinator of the RAAMP, Engr. Femi Adetanmi revealed that the project was estimated to cost a sum of N1.2 billion and was expected to be completed within the space of 18 months.
He explained that the roads would be useful to the people of Ondo State as it would give the farmers easy access to transport their farm produce and goods and thereby reduce food scarcity.
According to him, the key objective of RAAMP was to create access into rural communities and improve agricultural marketing, preservation and building of valuable structures to strengthen the process of marketing farm products through value addition and post-harvest loss reduction, thus, the need for road construction.
“The rural roads when completed will connect the people of the rural communities with the urban areas and this will allow free flow of farm produce, a gesture which has eluded the communities over the year.
“Let me therefore, humbly make a clarion call to all farmers to ensure that through this gesture, farm products are made available in sufficient quantities to the markets to eliminate food scarcity that is being experienced due to poor road networks in the rural and farm areas”, the coordinator stated.
He further revealed that the first phase of the construction cut across the three senatorial districts of the state which are Oda-Cocoa Board to Langbodi in Akure South LG, Ode-Omi to Ebute Iyara in Irele LG and Ifira Akoko to Afo in Akoko South/East LG, declaring that all construction work will commence simultaneously.