The Ondo state government has reaffirmed its commitment to constructing more roads in rural areas across the state, to boost agricultural activities, productivity and to sustain agricultural development in the state.
The Special Adviser to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu on Rural and Community Development, Mr Kolawole Babatunde, who disclosed this in Akure, Ondo state capital, said a good network of rural roads will help to boost agricultural activities by making water, seeds and other raw materials needed for farming getting to the farmer on time.
Babatunde said the state government is set to embark on the construction of about 700km across the three senatorial districts under the Rural Access and Marketing Project (RAAMP), a World Bank-assisted programme but disclosed that the road construction will be carried out in phases.
According to him, “revamping rural roads would help to reduce issues of food scarcity and grant access to the rural parts of the state for marketing and farming activities saying this will prevent frequent spoilage of farm produce.”
He said the construction project will be funded through the World Bank and the state counterpart fund, and said the project will be broken down based on the roads we are intervening in and we’ve gotten about €3.5 million and about US500,000.
“This is aside from the N1.4 billion that Governor Akeredolu has released as counterpart fund to us. The way it works is that the funding has to get approval from the World Bank. We write to them stating the roads we are intervening in, the cost, then the World Bank will give approval.”
The former House of Representatives member said the Akeredolu-led administration has continued to show uncommon commitment toward the transformation of the rural areas in the state.
He said this is achieved through the Directorate of Rural and Community Development and the two other World Bank-assisted Agencies under the Directorate; the Ondo State Community and Social Development Agency (ODCSDA) and the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP).
“Our government’s decision to be one of the participating states in RAAMP was borne out of the concerned attitude of our governor and the desire to change the negative narrative associated with getting access to the rural part of the state, coupled with the maintenance of the roads.
“For every action we take as directorate and agency, we get the approval of Mr Governor first. Then, it comes to us, we finetune, and then it goes to the World Bank.
“As counterpart fund, we’ve gotten N1.4 billion and when a state pushes such amount, you could rest assured of what will come in as World Bank intervention.
“We are not limited to the €3.5 million and the US$500,000, it is a pool. It depends on how we are able to fast-track our construction that will determine the number of the amount we will be able to access.
“We have about 20 states in the project but it has been my prayer that we access more funds than any other state in the country so that we can have more rural roads,” he said.
The Special Adviser noted that, for proper management of supply chains of agricultural products and raw materials from production to delivery to the consumer, the state is set to establish an agro-logistics hub across the three senatorial districts of the state.
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