The Edo State Commissioner for Roads and Bridges, Ethan Uzamere, has said work is about to begin on N228 billion reconstruction of the deplorable Benin-Asaba expressway.
He confirmed that the Delta State Government was part of the reconstruction agreement, for residents and travellers to benefit from the real dividends of democracy.
Uzamere spoke yesterday at his office in Benin during a news conference.
Governor Godwin Obaseki on January 31, at the Government House, Benin, signed an N228 billion agreement with Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria (InfraCorp) and AAA Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (Triple-A Infrastructure), for the reconstruction of the strategic road.
The road project is to be funded by Triple Infrastructure and InfraCorp and supported by the Edo State Government as an equity investor, under the 25-year Highway Development Management Initiative (HDMI) Concession to Africa Plus Partners.
Sixty kilometers of the road are in Edo State, and a large portion of the road starts from Ring Road, Benin, through Abudu and Agbor to Asaba.
Obaseki described the partnership as a great financing model for unlocking infrastructure development in the country while calling for a sustained partnership between states and the Federal Government.
He noted that the Federal Government did not have the kind of money required to rebuild major roads to the standard they should be, stressing that the N228 billion was more than a quarter of the entire budget of the Federal Ministry of Works.
