FERMA repairs Ilesa-Ife Road
The Federal Road Maintenance Agency has begun the repair of some failed sections of the Ilesa-Ife Expressway to ease difficulties being faced by motorists plying the road.
The Federal Road Maintenance Engineer in Osun State, Mr. Ayodele Omojengbesi, said this in an interview with our correspondent in Osogbo on Friday.
The repair work is ongoing at Ipetumodu and the FERMA boss said the agency’s team would move to Gbongan-Wasimi section of the road to continue the patching of the bad spots on the road.
Omojengbesi said, “There are dangerous potholes on this road and FERMA has started patching some of these potholes to make the journey on the road safe.
“We are working around Ipetumodu and after this, we will move to Gbongan- Wasimi section of the road to continue with the repair work.”
The FERMA boss said the agency was making use of direct labour to execute the work, saying the patching of potholes would be extended to the Osun Junction, which he said was prone to accidents.
To make the work cheaper, Omojengbesi said the agency was using its mini asphalt and potholes patcher with direct labour to get the work done.
He said, “We don’t buy asphalt; we produce the one we use at our mini asphalt plant and we use our pothole patchers to carry out the repair work. This is reducing the cost and it is making our work faster.
“But we don’t have enough money to repair every part of the road at the same time. We are using the little money we receive to get the sections where we are done.”
He raised the hope of motorists plying Ilobu Road, which links Osogbo with Ogbomoso in Oyo State, saying the inspection team of the agency from its headquarters had visited the road to assess it.
He said work would start soon on it but when asked to say the specific time when the repair work would commence, Omojengbesi said he could not say but stressed that the management of the agency had shown interest in fixing the road.
He stated that the Gbongan-Iwo-Awe Road in Oyo State was also inspected by the team form Abuja.
PUNCH.
