The Kwara State Government in collaboration with the World Bank was on Wednesday 13th of January, 2020 flagged off the construction of $60m Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing projects, RAAMP intervention road projects in the state.
The flagged off ceremony was carried out by the Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq who was represented by his deputy, Mr. Kayode Alabi said that he paid the N400m (four hundred million counterpart fund to attract the intervention of RAAMP in the state.
He said that the government cannot lay claim to promote food security or seek investment into the state when the roads are in bad shape adding that this was his reason for committed the huge resources into seeking partnership with international agencies.
“Our administration has so far paid N400m counterpart fund for the RAAMP to make these intervention possible. I commend the World Bank and the international donor agencies for their support”
“We cannot claim to promote food security or seek investment from outside when the roads are in bad shape. We cannot seek brighter future for future generations when our schools and other enabling infrastructure are in shambles.”
He expressed appreciation to all sponsors and donor agencies as well as the Ministry of works and transport, the state project monitoring committee, SPMC) and the state project implementation unit for their hard work and commitment.
Earlier, the Project coordinator, RAAMP, Kwara State, Engineer Akorede Abduwahab Agboola in his welcome address commended the administration of Governor AbdulRazaq administration for scoring a first among the 13 states involved in RAAMP across the nation by being the first to flag of the construction project.
Agboola reiterated the importance of RAAMP assisted project in the opening and development of rural areas by creating accessibility to opportunities outside their domains.
He said that “the flag off of the first 5.2km road in Alapa would in no small way help in reducing post harvest losses, expose farmers to international trade, and eliminate middlemen as well as improving the total economy of the rural areas and the state in general”
In his goodwill message, the National Coordinator of RAAMP, Engr. Aminu B. Mohammed who also commended Kwara for being the first state to initiate the flag off of rural road construction under the RAAMP assisted initiative.
He reiterated that this action will put Kwara ahead of other states of the federation at least the first among the thirteen participant state enjoying the RAAMP assistance.
No comments:
Post a Comment