In line with the Rural Urban Policy on bad roads, the State Government disclosed that, the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure has begin rehabilitation works on some of the internal roads, like Saptex, Okaka roads and deplorable roads in the state.
The state Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, who stated this when the leaders of the Epie Kingdom Development Organization paid him a courtesy visit in his office.
He assured residents, that government would fix all failed roads, to enable easy movement in the state. Government was composed to execute the comprehensive plan for a full redesign and engineering of all the bad roads to address the issues of poor drainage and flooding being experienced in some parts of the state recently.
He advised the Epie Kingdom Development Organization to look beyond its socio-cultural role of organising the annual Epie Festival, by lending its voice to issues of governance and development of the Epie Kingdom, and the state in general. Also urged the organization, to collaborate with government and its relevant security agencies, so as to expose criminals and cultists in their various communities.
“Coming to the issue of bad roads, most of them require full redesign, because their filling is too low. So, the government is trying to see how we can redesign those roads. Moreover, the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure is already working on redesigning the roads. We had carried out some rehabilitation works in instalments on some of the internal roads in the state capital before, like Okaka, Saptex and other failed roads. And there are various needs competing for the available resources of the state, I can assure that, we are going to work on all the bad internal roads in our state”, he stated.
In addition, the President of the Epie Kingdom Development Organization (EKDO), Dr. Wisdom Albert, called on government’s intervention to acquire 50 plots of land across the Epie Creek for them, so that, they can build a befitting Palace for the Obenibe, and a central events centre for the hosting of the Epie Annual Festival, which is rotational annually among the 17 communities involved. He also appealed for government to create more poliical appointments, and job opportunities for the sons and daughters of Epie community.
