Nigeria’s longest concrete road project, the Obajana-Kabba road in Kogi State, is set to be delivered by December 2018. This according to the company handling the project, AG Dangote.
Olatunbosun O. Kalejaiye, the Project Director of AG-Dangote Construction Company Limited, said so far 29 km had been completed, with commercial activities starting to spring up along the route.
The 43 km Obajana-Kabba road project is part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) of Dangote Cement Plc. The Project Manager Akhimienho Emmanuel said when completed the road can last more than 50 years. The Bajana of Obajana Land, King Idowu Senibi, described the project as “gigantic and the first of its kind anywhere in Nigeria.”
“Our society will be opened as you can see vehicles and commercial activities have started coming up,” he said adding that Obajana was like a village before the coming of Dangote Cement Plc but now “our population is about 70,000 people and is still growing.”said Mr. Emmanuel
A commercial driver, Adeniyi Adeniji, 50, from Ogun State said he has been plying the road for several years and that it always took him hours to drive through Obajana-Kabba, but now it takes him less than 45 minutes.
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A community leader and retired policeman at Kilometer 29 of Ayegunle Igun Bunu Kabba Local Government, Matthew Robinson, expressed optimism that when completed, kidnapping and armed robbery would be wiped out of the region.
Project plan
Worried by the huge sum of money used in road repairs, President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said plans were afoot to revolutionize Nigerian roads with concrete, stressing that resources used in road repairs and maintenance would be channeled to other more important needs of the nation.
“We are going to be building concrete roads in the country so that anytime we build a road, we do not have to go back to repair it after the third raining season, but move on and use the resources to address other pressing needs of Nigeria,” Dangote said.
As part of its CRS, Dangote Group had earlier commissioned the 26 km Itori-Ibese concrete road.
