Ongoing Asphalt overlay of the road
If you are one of those who have long passed through the Owo-Ikare road in Ondo state, don't be surprised if you see something strang when next you travel on the road.
The goodnews is that the Ondo State Agency for Road Maintenance and Construction, OSARMCO has commenced the sectional asphalt overlay of the road.
The road which has for many years served as the only link route to the northern part of the country following the sorry state of the Ipele-Isua road has long been abandoned by the Federal Government leaving travellers and users with excruciating pains, especially those from the Akoko axis of the state.
The agency moved its men and equipment to prosecute the road last week under the Mimiko-led administration's interventionist programme tagged "Emergency Repair of Federal Roads", an initiative designed towards giving travellers motoring comfort on some selected Federal roads in the state.
After one week of aggressive work on the long deplorable road, the Ondo State Agency for Road Maintenance and Construction has now began its asphalt overlay from the Owo axis of the road.
This development has triggered commendation from travellers and users of the road to the mimiko-led administration for coming to the rescue at this trying time that many states are financially handicapped.
Some drivers interviewed said they have abandoned the road long time ago for alternative routes considering the enormous damage that the road has done to their vehicles.
Some travellers who narrated their harrowing experiences on the ever busy road also showered encomium on the Ondo state government for putting an end to their long sufferings and nightmares on the road.
Inspecting the level of work done, the OSARMCO chairman, Engineer Kehinde Osikoya explained that the operation began with a crush stone base followed by two layers of asphalt.
According to him: "What we have some hitherto was the crush stone base which has now reached the Ikare end. And we have now fallen back to start asphalt works; this is one asphalt laying gang. We also have some smaller gangs that are doing patching of bad portions.
"By next week, we are going to have another asphalt laying gang, so in all, we are looking at having five gangs for laying asphalt. And we are hoping that in another two weeks, we would have gone appreciablely high on asphalt between Owo and Ikare".
He said the road is being prosecuted in line with the international best practices in such a way that it could withstand heavy duty trucks.
"We are going to have two layers of asphalt on crush stone base. This place witness a number of trucks being a federal road. So what we are filmg is an asphalt pavement that can withstand the huge traffic on the road, that's why we are doing two layers of asphalt on crush stone base", Osikoya said.
The OSARMCO boss explained that the gesture is an eloquent testimony to governor Mimiko's commitment to making life bearable for residents of the state especially those from the akoko area.
He said: ordinarily, considering the amount of indebtedness of the federal government to the state for all Federal government roads that have been done over the years, one would expect that Governor Mimiko woukd look away. But such is his commitment to the citizenry of Ondo state.
"The people of Akoko in particular have been crying that because of the bad road, many of them have avoided this road; so much socio-economic activities in this axis have been denied, and I think this is another opportunity for us to commend his excellency and to salute his forthrightness in dealing with this road".
To speed up the rehabilitation work, there are three gangs working on the road simultaneously. One from the Ikare end, the middle and another from the Owo axis of the road.
