Edo State Commissioner for Roads and Bridges Uzamere Addresses Press on Governor Obaseki's Infrastructure Achievements

The Commissioner for Roads and Bridges in Edo State, Hon. Ethan Uzamere has held a press briefing in Benin City to shed light on the efforts by the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration to reposition Edo in terms of road and energy infrastructure.

In his address to the newsmen, the Commissioner emphasized the importance of an honest assessment of the country's economic landscape. Reflecting on the challenges faced, he highlighted the need for innovative approaches in managing infrastructural projects.

He said: "There was a narrative which was false that the State is not doing any federal road which is very false because you’re aware we are doing the Benin-Abraka road, we are doing a lot of roads in the Edo central area. Also, since I took over this office one thing I’ve done is to see how we can think differently in this space."

"We had a big push last year on the state of the federal roads like the Benin-Auchi roads which has been ongoing for more than ten years and some of those contractors have been paid even more than their certificates. How is the audit? Who is auditing them and How do we bring back those money that has been paid? And look at the state of it."

Uzamere also noted substantial increases in the costs of essential materials like bitumen, diesel, and cement over recent months. According to him, these price hikes have significantly escalated the expenses associated with road construction, posing challenges for contractors and project timelines.

"When I assumed this Ministry, I think about last year, we were doing a kilometer of road between 400 and 600 million naira but now as of last year December it went up to about a billion depending on the terrain which is one of the cheapest around the country. We are dealing with contractors and they are business men running their own businesses. That’s why we have decided to partner with private entities and Federal government for us to prioritize some of these roads that are classified as federal roads."

"The first one I will be doing during my tenure as commissioner will be the Benin-Asaba road which is a very important transaction. We should look at how we can save money In the future in terms of road construction because it’s an investment which the state is going to get back dividends and it’s privately ran so the bureaucracy would not be that much compared to if it’s government, " Uzamere said.

The Commissioner recalled struggles faced by the State in establishing private power generation initiatives, such as the Ossiomo Power project.

According to him, "Yesterday, the Minister of Power came out and said we can no longer afford subsidy for electricity. During the beginning of this administration of His Excellency, Mr Godwin Obaseki, what the economic team then decided to do, we decided that we need to think differently on how to manage an economy, how to manage a State."

"And I can remember when we were promoting the private power generating company called Ossiomo Power. I don’t know if anyone remembers, the issue with the Federal Government, the issue with the BEDC, not wanting to give us licenses and it was a battle for years just for us to even get licenses and these are the issues that we kept talking about."

"They can’t afford even all these subsidies and all the feedstock for even generating power is still ran and controlled by the Federal Government which most importantly is gas. And it was a battle and we thank God that we won that battle," Uzamere said.

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