The Delta State Government in Nigeria has approved 11 roads for immediate construction. According to the state’s Commissioner for works James Auguye, the roads include: Oniore/High Court road, Orerokpe; Obiazikwuo Street, Boji Boji, Owa and Alika Street in Boji Boji.
Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa said that the government intends to take full advantage of the dry season to develop more areas in the state to ensure the efficient movement of goods and people.
The others are Owa, Ogbeima internal roads in Bomadi LGA, Okerenkoko township road Phase 4 and Pamol Road in Ethiope West.
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Rehabilitation of rural road in Nigeria
About 30 million Nigerians currently live in near isolation and lack access to social services. Nigeria has a relatively dense but largely deteriorated road network due to lack of maintenance. The network includes federal highways 34,000km, State roads 30,000km and rural roads 130,000km. Of the country’s 160,000km of state and rural roads, less than 10-15% of rural roads are considered to be in good condition.
Underdeveloped road networks increase transport costs and limit connectivity, making it difficult for local farmers to gain access to local and regional markets, both to source key intermediate inputs, and to commercialize agricultural outputs. The resulting negative effects on agricultural productivity and household income make it difficult for poor farmers to have the incentives and the resources to modernize the production process, thereby perpetuating basic subsistence agriculture.
To address these problems, the Federal Government of Nigeria put forward the Second Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP2) to upgrade or rehabilitate 1,450 km of rural roads in selected federal states.
