FERMA Pledges Aggressive Road Rehabilitation In S’West

The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) has pledged that it would rehabilitate major highways in the South-West geopolitical zone this year.

FERMA’s Executive Director (Finance and Accounts), Mr Taiwo Ladipo, made the promise when he led a monitoring team from Abuja to inspect ongoing road rehabilitation projects in Lagos.

He stressed that the agency was poised to embark on aggressive roads’ rehabilitation, adding that it had already started the rehabilitation of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

“We were in Ilaro yesterday and we later went to Shagamu and Ikorodu to inspect ongoing road projects. Today, we have inspected the ones in Lagos.

“We are rehabilitating the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway and we would extend the project to other areas.

“Before the peak of the rainy season, we would have repaired all bad locations on this road; we would have also repaired other roads in Lagos and in the entire South West,” he said.

Also speaking,  FERMA’s Zonal Coordinator (South-West II), Mr Oladipo Fagbamila, said that the agency was working “on the fast lane” so as to avoid road repairs during the peak of the rainy season.

He said that FERMA started with the rehabilitation of all access and exit routes to the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, so as to make the overall road rehabilitation project more meaningful.

Besides, Fagbamila said that the agency’s asphalt plant in Lagos, which was under construction, would be ready before the end of this month.

He stressed that the plant would boost FERMA’s roads’ rehabilitation programme.

During the inspection of works on the Iyana-Ipaja exit route, some residents commended the Federal Government for the road project.

They, however, urged FERMA to reconstruct drainage channels in the area to curb the perennial menace of erosion and flood.

Chief Rotimi Oreloluwa told newsmen that they were happy with the rehabilitation of the neighbourhood’s access and exit routes, which had been neglected for long.

He urged FERMA to sustain roads’ rehabilitation in the area, while constructing more drainage channels to tackle the problem erosion.

FERMA team also inspected the ongoing construction of retaining walls and drainage channels in the area, as well as the parapet wall paintings and asphalt overlay on the Third Mainland Bridge.