Edo Govt. Completes Reconstruction of 30km Benin Metropolis Roads

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

The government of Edo state has disclosed that more than 30km of roads within the Benin metropolis, have been reconstructed between December 2016 and April 2017.

Director of Construction, Edo state Ministry of Works, Mr. John Obanor, made the disclosure to journalists during a tour of the roads in Benin. He said from a total of 29 roads out of over 50km earmarked for rehabilitation, 15 have been completed with either flexible pavement or rigid pavement.

Obanor, who is also the head of construction in the ministry, explained that the decision to use rigid pavement was to ensure durability of the roads, especially in areas that are prone to environmental condition such as flooding.

His words: “We have done quite well as regards reconstruction and rehabilitation of the roads. In fact, we are sure of completing all these roads before the rains set in proper. As you may have noticed, we adopted quite a number of measures to ensure these roads last longer. These measures are the combination of rigid pavement and flexible pavement.

“Areas that are prone to environmental condition, we use rigid pavement while we use flexible pavement for the areas that are not prone to flooding. Concrete pavement is like a new innovation we introduced recently here, of particular interest to you should be that of Nevis street that was reconstructed with rigid pavement. We also provided side drains in some of the roads where necessary. These roads were not just in the GRA, but around Benin city.”

Speaking further, the Head of Construction noted that the roads were carefully chosen to ease traffic flow within the city and also provide alternative routes to motorists in the city.

According to him, “You know some of these roads were completely bad that they became night mere to motorists.”