Oyo govt. approves second phase of street light project

TRACKING___The Oyo State Government has approved the commencement of the second phase of the ‘Light-Up Oyo State’ project aimed at erecting street lights on 70 roads totalling 223.42 kilometres across the state.

The approval was given at the weekly State Executive Council (SEC) meeting held via video-conferencing in Ibadan.

The state’s Commissioner for Public Works, Infrastructure and Transport, Prof. Raphael Afonja, said the initiative would further spread the gains already recorded in the first phase in the area of security and socio-economic development.

He also said that the council approved the Operation Zero Pothole Initiative “in line with the desire of Gov. Makinde to immediately fix all potholes in the state starting from Ibadan, the state

“About 70 roads have been captured for the installation of this LED streetlights and majority of roads in the state will feel the impact.

“One of the reasons for the project was that Gov. Makinde believes in the security of the society. So, the initiative came up for security reasons.

“Also, we believe the project will have impact in socio-economic terms as we saw in the first phase.

” People can feel secure coming from their homes or going to the office, places of business, hospitals or wherever they are coming from.

“The second project is the Zero-Pothole Initiative that the governor has embarked upon, the governor believes there is the need to quickly fix the potholes before the commencement of the rains, starting with Ibadan metropolis.

“As we all know, most traffic congestions experienced in the past have been due to people being extra careful when they are driving because they don’t want to hit the potholes.

“So, the executive council approved the commencement of patching of potholes, starting with Ibadan metropolis.

“Also, another thing that has been done recently is the decentralisation of OYSROMA so that it can have offices in five zones, which will allow effectiveness in terms of fixing most of these potholes that have been observed across the state,

“So, we are being pro-active about it, while OYSROMA will take the lead.

“There are other initiatives when it comes to potholes fixing that will follow this which will go all the way to the grassroots.

“Initially, people think it is only in Ibadan but we should thank the governor because it is now expanding to other zones in the state,” Afonja said.

Speaking on the rehabilitation of dumpsites, Mr Kehinde Agboola, the Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, said the council approved the award of contract for the rehabilitation of two dumpsites in Ibadan under the new Solid Waste Management Architecture launched by the governor recently.

Agboola also revealed that the selection process for the Private Sector Participants (PSPs) that would drive the waste management project had already been concluded.

“The Oyo State Executive Council has approved contracts for the rehabilitation of two waste dumpsites in Ibadan.

“There is one at Ajakanga, Oluyole Local Government and the second one is at Awotan near Apete in Ido Local Government.

“The contractor has, as I speak to you, moved to site and work has commenced.

“The idea is to expand the capacity and enhance the efficiency of our solid waste collection and disposal efforts,” he said.