The Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA, has commenced rehabilitation works on some selected Federal roads in four states of the South west, the agency’s zonal director, Mary Adeniran, has said.
Mrs Adeniran said in an interview on Tuesday in Ibadan that the rehabilitation work was in line with the Presidential Order for rapid intervention and repair of federal roads across the country.
According to her, provision has been made for direct labour intervention on selected roads in all the states of the federation.
“States under Southwest I zone are Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Kwara states.
“Repair works have commenced on Oyo – Ogbomoso Road and another spot repair work at Oyo-Aawe-Iwo road, where a culvert is being replaced.
“In Osun, work is in progress on Ilesa-Ijebu-Jesa up to Ekiti border road while rehabilitation work is ongoing on Ado Ekiti-Itawure to the same Osun state border.
“Kwara state, that is among the southwest I, for administrative purpose, has road from Omuaran to Ekan meje up to Ekiti state border under repairs.
“The agency is on top of the situation to ensure that quality job is done to fix these selected roads on time as directed by the Presidency’’, Mrs Adeniran stated.
She expressed optimism that more roads would be rehabilitated after the passage of the 2018 budget.
The director refuted the allegation that the agency uses substandard materials to repair roads.
She said: “FERMA has specifications, standards, moreover, we carry out tests on some of the materials before they are used, we also carry out control test on the road when work is ongoing.”
She blamed short durability of some roads to abuse by road users through overloading; stressing that roads that are subjected to unlimited loading would not be durable.
Mrs Adeniran added that indiscriminate erection of bumps by some communities on federal roads to control speeding, also contribute to bad condition of roads.
“It damages the road more, because these bump erectors use concrete with asphalt and the two are not related.
“Sometimes, these bumps contribute to accidents especially for the unwary road users who ply such roads and meet bumps unexpectedly.
“Those erecting bumps don’t follow regulations, no warning signs and even if they are to put bumps they should follow specifications.
“They should liaise with the Federal Ministry of Works, or the agency for better ways to limit speed on roads instead of erecting bogus bumps on roads themselves’’, the director advised.
The Southwest FERMA boss hoped for a more appropriate funding method for the road sector so as to perform its statutory duty maximally.
NAN
