As the governor, Kayode Fayemi, instructed the engineers in the State Ministry of Works and Transportation to collaborate with the contractor managing the road to immediately conduct a geotechnical survey of the affected road, a permanent solution to the failed portion of the Ilawe-Ado-Ekiti road appeared to be underway.
When visiting the section of the road that had failed in Ilawe, Ekiti, on Wednesday afternoon, Governor Fayemi issued the order, emphasizing that the government would endeavor to find a long-term solution to the problem.
The Governor, who was present along with the Director General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, Mr. O’Seun Odewale, the Commissioner for Local Government and Rural Development, Prof. Adio Folayan, the Commissioner for Information and Values Orientation, Barr. Akin Omole, and other government representatives, claimed that the survey would provide the necessary details regarding the extent of the spoiled portion’s impact on other asphalted sections of the road.
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According to him, preliminary steps would be taken to get the road back in use while the current alternative routes would be upgraded to handle the volume of traffic that would be routed to the affected areas while waiting for the results of the survey.
The Governor emphasized the significance of the road to the state government while being greeted by the town’s monarch, Alawe of Ilawe Ekiti, Oba Adebanji Alabi. He also gave the residents of the town the assurance that the government would handle the situation and ensure that the road was repaired for all users.
During the tour, Dr. Fayemi emphasized the importance of people taking climate change seriously and said that the failed section of the road was mostly one of its repercussions.
“This is another evidence why we must take climate change very seriously when I heard of it this morning I even thought it was the other failed portion which we had already contracted out to the original contractor that was affected but it turned out that it is another part of the road that has now failed.
“This is a state road, we will take some preliminary measures to restore the road back to some reasonable use but we don’t want to be precipitated about our approach to dealing with this problem. We are going to get our engineers in the ministry of works, to work with the contractor, to do a geotechnical survey of the area affected. we will do a survey of at least 500 meters around this entire axis so that we know what is happening underneath the asphalted area in order to deal with it effectively.
“The important thing is pending the time this is being fixed alternative road will be made available via igede, toward Iyin for those who wants to get to Ado. It is a very important road to us in the state and that is understandable serving as alternative road for those who wants to get outside the state either towards Ilesha, Igbara odo, Igbara oke, Akure or those who want it as a short cut to other communities and farmland in this area not to mention Ilawe community itself that is going to be most affected by this unfortunate development.
“But I want to assure Kabyesi and all the people of Ilawe Ekiti that Government is not unaware of this that was why I came to check it myself and the contractor has already come I believe is bringing his extracavator and other equipment to start work immediately on this.” He said.
