Lagos State Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Mr. Muslim Folami has disclosed that the ongoing construction of 114 standard access roads across the state will be completed this year in fulfilment of Governor Ambode’s promise of ensuring that everyone feels the impact of his administration.
He said the 114 access roads are designed and being constructed with covered drains, walkways and street lights in all the 20 Local Government and 37 Local Council Development Areas, on the basis of 2 per LG/LCDA, with an average length of 665 meters and of high standard.
The Commissioner stated this today at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja, during the 2016 Ministerial Press Briefing of the State Government in commemoration of the first year in office of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.
Folami noted that the ongoing construction does not include the 233 road projects initiated by the leadership of the various LG/LCDAs, which are now at different stages of completion across the state.
According to him, “The state government initiative has created an average of 32 professional and skilled jobs, 17 unskilled jobs with the creation of another 21 indirect jobs per road. In addition, the efforts of the LG/LCDAs have also created about 6,000 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs in Lagos”.
The Commissioner also averred that the Ambode led administration has integrated Community Development Associations (CDAs) and Community Development Committees (CDCs) into the participatory network of service delivery and budgetary cycle of government at the State and Local Government levels, stressing that it is noteworthy that the CDAs are taking ownerships of road facilities which has made monitoring relatively easy.
The Commissioner said the state government through the Ministry will soon provide a modified type a water projects that will serve a minimum of 3,000 persons per day at Okunraye in Ibeju, Imalefalafia in Epe and Ode Omi in Lekki in addition to maintaining over 342 of such facilities in the state.
He added that, as part of effort to reduce rural-urban migration, the government has similarly installed and handed over 49 new 33 KV and 11 KV transformers to communities in Badagry, Epe, Ikorodu, and Ibeju –Lekki areas, noting that additional transformers were also provided at Ajegunle Mofo, Aleke, and Agbede-Ebuwawa in Ikorodu while plans have been initiated to extend it to 21 other locations before the end of the year.
In his remark, the Special Adviser to the Governor, Office of Communities and Communications, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan said the litmus test of the Ambode administration’s commitment to inclusive governance is the way the government has applied the concept to the execution of the on-going 114 road projects.
Bamigbetan said the government ensured that roles were created for the communities where the projects were to be executed with contractors and details of projects introduced to the community before commencement of projects.
He said, “The establishment of projects committee by each community to work with the contractors for the smooth execution of the project as well as engagement of artisans and petty contractors in the neighbourhood were done not only to improve the lives of people in the area but also give the people a sense of ownership as well.”
