Landlords, residents and business owners in the Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State have lamented the slow pace of work on the Denro-Ishasi-Akute road construction project.
The construction began a few months after the state Governor, Dapo Abiodun, visited the area to inspect the condition of the road.
During the commencement of the construction, shops and fences of buildings in the area were demolished; culverts leading to many estates were also demolished to pave way for the construction of drainage channels.
Residents said hoodlums in the area had been taking advantage of the situation to extort members of the public.
During a recent visit to the community, our correspondent observed that a bridge under construction along the Denro axis had been abandoned.
Also, the materials used in constructing the drainage channels had spread onto the road, causing traffic that slowed down vehicular movement and occasionally caused accidents on the road.
It was also observed that the excavated parts of the Denro-Ishasi Road had become muddy due to lack of construction activities as pedestrians plying the axis found it difficult to get to their destinations.
The situation worsened during the rainy season as the dam accumulated dirty water which overflowed onto the road and polluted the environment.
A resident, Rabi Mohammed, while complaining about the lack of coordination by the construction workers, linked the slow construction of the road to monetary issues.
Mohammed said, “I suspect that there are many contractors working on the road. The contractors probably get paid at different times and they report at different portions of the road at different times when they are paid to do their different bits.
“The contractors have abandoned the road for now, waiting for the rain to come again and spoil what they have done. It is a tragedy; the bridge is now desolate with all the equipment removed, making residents and commuters hopeless and vulnerable to those miscreants that now inhabit the uncompleted bridge.
“It is not interesting to be talking about the same 4.6-kilometre road every time. Who does that? The attitude of the Ogun State Government and the contractors make the life of residents along this axis worthless, particularly for retirees who have given this country their all. As a senior citizen of nearly 70-year-old, when I think of that road, I am full of regrets.”
A Point-of-Sale operator, Ebere Joel, said dust from the road was affecting the health of residents.
He said, “We are now in the harmattan season and it is dusty and affecting our health as we cannot breathe well. We are pleading with the government to do something fast about the road.
“Right now, Taye Bello Street along Akute Road has been barricaded because it is flooded; it blocked vehicles from passing there because the drainage is not properly done.”
The state Commissioner for Information, Waheed Odusule, said the construction work would be completed in the first quarter of 2023, adding that residents should be patient.
He said, “There are contractors working at the Denro-Ishasi and Akute axis and they are working according to schedule; the road will be completed in the first quarter of 2023. It is only the engineer that can determine if the construction work is done well or not; residents cannot determine that.”
