…to begin compensation payment to owners of properties demolished by predecessor
Ogun State Government says the immediate past administration of governor Ibikunle Amosun left N202billion debt on road projects alone for his successor.
The state government also disclosed its plans to begin payment of compensation to owners of properties demolished by the Amosun administration.
Amosun’s government had demolished some structures to pave way for the expansion of some roads across the state.
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Kunle Somorin, in a statement on Sunday, quoted the state’s Commissioner for Works, Engr. Ade Akinsanya, to have disclosed that “The Dapo Abiodun administration inherited outstanding debt of N202billion from the Amosun government on roads alone.”
The statement said the state government now has billions of compensation claims to contend with in addition to sourcing for huge sums of money to complete the abandoned roads.
It further quoted the Commissioner as saying that “the demolitions carried out by Amosun’s administration were unnecessary,” adding that “it ended up compounding the problems being faced by the present government.”
The statement also disclosed that the governor had approved the compensation payment, which will be in phases.
The commissioner added that the state government had decided to adopt a policy of “no demolition” in its project execution, except where necessary and unavoidable.
It added, “Our road design and construction is such that we try to avoid demolition. It is actually not necessary to demolish while constructing roads, unless it is actually unavoidable.
“The same thing applies to bridge construction. Most of the bridges constructed by that regime were a waste of resources. For instance, on the entire stretch of the 19kilometers Atan-Lusada-Agbara road has only one bridge. And the length is short,” he said.