Bureacratic process is delaying. the release of funds for the commencement of the repair of the deplorable Abule Egba-Toll gate portion of the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway,the Lagos sate government has declared.
Speaking during the weekend,Special Adviser to Lagos governor on Works,Mrs Aramide Adeoye said though funds for the repair of the road which is causing untold pains to commuters along the ever busy road,it could not be assessed and released to contractors because of the procurement process which is rather too cumbersome for comfort.
She said that as things stand today,the whole unwholesome process had to be fulfilled to satisfy World Bank requirements on release of funds.
As a result of the need to satisfy this process residents and motorists still have a long way to go through pains and agony as the long procurement processes could not be fastvtrackef
It will be recalled that for over two years now, commuters and motorists have been going through horrible and painful experiences plying the road with many collapsed portions.
Daily, trucks fall down on the road while trying to navigate these portions as deep as manholes, craters pits or gullies, blocking the road completely and making it impassable.
Said she,” funding for reconstruction of the road was available, according to the Minister for Works but it takes time to complete procurement process, and this is the major problem.”
According to her: “The Minister of Works has said they are ready to start but you must complete the procurement process.
“You can’t jump it, it is due process, it is one of the things the World Bank has laid as a condition for transparency and openness, so we have to accomplish that as well.”
Adeyoye said the State Government would have gone ahead to fix the road “but there is a limit to what we can do given the extant rules that exist on the Federal side; that is as a state you cannot go into a federal road and when you go you must obtain permission and you may not be reimbursed if you fix the road.
“And if you can’t get reimbursement, you begin to ask yourself if you can afford it based on available resources. So, why not wait for the particular agency that is responsible to fix it?”
She pleaded for patience of residents in the axis and nother users of the road, saying “the government knows the cry and we feel it, we do feel the pain of the masses there and that is why we are fixing the little we can fix there”.
