SAPELE/Nigeria: Senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District, Ede Dafinone, has welcomed the commencement of emergency rehabilitation of failed portions of the Benin-Sapele-Effurun Expressway, while calling for further attention to other deteriorated federal roads across the district.
Dafinone stated this in a statement following the flag-off of the rehabilitation exercise at Amukpe Roundabout, Sapele, where officials of the Delta State Government, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and other stakeholders gathered for the commencement of the intervention.
The project is targeting about 15 kilometres of some of the worst-affected portions along the Ajomata/Ibada–Elume–Amukpe–Oghara axis of the major highway.
The senator described the intervention as a response to the difficulties experienced by motorists, commuters, businesses and communities that depend on the Benin-Sapele-Effurun corridor.
He commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the NDDC and the Delta State Government for their involvement in the rehabilitation effort, saying the condition of the road had generated considerable concern among residents and other road users.
Dafinone said his support for the intervention followed sustained engagement with relevant government authorities over the deteriorating condition of the highway.
He said the development demonstrated the importance of what he described as constructive engagement between elected representatives, government agencies and the executive arm of government.
According to him, the NDDC’s decision to move from inspection of the affected sections to the commencement of rehabilitation within days was encouraging.
The NDDC team inspected affected portions of the road from Benin through Sapele to Effurun on Tuesday, before the flag-off of the intervention on Friday, August 28.
Dafinone said the speed with which the intervention moved from inspection to commencement showed what could be achieved when government institutions and representatives of the people worked towards a common objective.
He, however, stressed that the intervention should not be regarded as the end of efforts to address the road infrastructure challenges in Delta Central.
The senator said several other federal roads in the senatorial district remained in need of urgent attention and promised to continue engaging the relevant authorities on them.
He particularly welcomed the decision to concentrate the current intervention on approximately 15 kilometres of the worst sections, saying the people required more extensive rehabilitation of the corridor.
Dafinone also disclosed that the rehabilitation was being undertaken from both ends of the affected sections, an approach he said would help ensure that attention was spread across the identified portions of the corridor.
He said the ultimate concern should be the completion of the road and the relief it would provide to road users, rather than which individual or institution received credit for the intervention.
“My concern is not about who takes the credit; my concern is that the road is fixed and our people get relief,” Dafinone said.
He expressed hope that the rehabilitation would be completed on schedule and restore smoother movement along the corridor, which serves communities and businesses between Benin, Sapele and Effurun.
The NDDC had announced the August 28 flag-off of the emergency intervention on the Ajomata/Ibada–Elume–Amukpe–Oghara section of the Effurun-Benin Express Road.
