Ben Ezechime, Enugu
The World Bank, through the Rural Access And Mobility Projects (RAAMP), is set to construct 500-Kilometer roads across communities in Enugu State to ease access to farmlands and movement of farm produce and boost agriculture in the state.
The Special Adviser to the Governor of Enugu State on Donor Relations, Dubem Onyia (Jnr) disclosed this during a stakeholders’ workshop on Road Sector Reforms in Enugu State under RAAMP.
Onyia said that RAAMP was a world bank assisted project and the bank complements all the efforts of the state government in building rural roads.
“We take roads that will benefit the rural community,” he said.
He said that the aim of the workshop was to get the stakeholders to understand the RAAMP project.
Speaking at the event, the member representing Igboeze North Constituency, in the Enugu State House of Assembly, Honourable Ejike Eze, said the State Legislature was ready to pass the bill.
“We will be there to lend our support,” Eze said.
Mr Patrick Ubru, Commissioner for Agriculture and Agro-Industrialization said that Enugu State had keyed into the RAAMP.
Ubru, who represented Governor Peter Mbah at the event said that Enugu was among the states selected for the projects for 2025.
The commissioner explained that the RAAMP team were at the workshop to carry the state government along and to let them know that they own the project and should protect it.
“It is a partnership of World Bank Assistant with the state to support our Agricultural sector. The road leads to the farm lands, to our farm estates,” Ubru said.
Earlier in his presentation on RAAMP and Road Sector Reforms, RAAMP consultant, Maysem Abedin, said RAAMP had done a lot of good things in Nigeria.
He observed that there were issues after road reforms and not before road reforms. He urged people to maintain their roads so that they could last longer.
Abedin disclosed that the current asset value of roads in Enugu State was N3.1trillion, which is 46% of Enugu Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
“If all the network were in good condition -N4.0 billion,” he said.
