Repair has begun immediately on the flooded section of the Moniya-Iseyin road on Monday as instructed by the Oyo State Government after the bad condition of the road reported after the heavy downpour that led to the rising of the river along the road.

This was stated by the Commissioner for Public Works and Transport, Prof. Daud Sangodoyin while addressing newsmen during an inspection of the road.

The road which was commissioned by May, 2021 has been a relief to the people of Oke-Ogun and its environs as it has afforded them the opportunity to travel within less period from Ibadan to Iseyin, as opposed to the situation before its construction.

The Commissioner stated that cause of the damages was the continuous heavy rain that can be attributed to the global climate change, and was not anticipated.

In his words, “We were informed that during the heavy downpour on Thursday and Friday, there were some issues as the water overflew and caused some damages by the side road, we are here to examine and assess what happened and what can be done.

“The first thing discovered is the overflow because the culverts there have been sealed up by mud, then the chainage that should be able to address the free flow of water has a problem on the other side of the road, it is not new because there is climate change all over the world, so we should prepare for it, not only in Oyo State but Nigeria as a whole.

“Work will start on it today, on the right-hand side, the channelization and on the left-hand side, retaining the walls and shifting of the culvert, in the long term, during the dry season, if we find out from weather forecast that we will have a heavy rainfall like this next year we will have to change the size of the culvert.

“The Consultant and the Contractor are with me to assess it together and we found out that it is not a serious issue but climate change that is affecting everybody all over the world, including vegetation and other things.

“I have instructed the contractor to mobilize their machine immediately so that the work can start on the channelization and to retain the wall and I can assure you that the work will start before we finish the inspection, I am assuring our people that our road is intact as it was when commissioned last year, the only damage there is on the shoulder and from today, work will start on it so that it will not hit on the road.”

In addition to the report of the Commissioner, the Consultant to the Governor on the Moniya-Iseyin-Ogbomoso road construction, Engr. Wale Lagunju explained that after proper assessment of the flooded road, it was noted that the pavement was still intact but there was need for remedial works, which the contractor has been instructed to begin immediately to ensure that the pavement remain in place.

The Project Manager of the construction company, KOPEC Construction Limited, Engr. Aymanza Zakhour also revealed that despite the flood, the road is still intact due to the standard specification used during construction, and that he has instructed his men to begin the necessary repair immediately, and that the work will be completed in no time.

The Commissioner went ahead to inspect the ongoing construction of Iseyin-Ogbomoso-Fapote road, where he noted that it would be completed by January 2023.

He also attributed the slow pace of work to the continuous heavy downpour, and promised to ensure a faster pace during the dry season.

He said, “They have completed the bridge around the chainage 16.0km and we are at chainage 6.0km at the culvert which is 3 by 3, as it is now, the earthwork is almost completed up to chainage 16km, the line drain is almost completed also, they have started to put the stone base from the spur which is 2km and I have advised them to put in more effort so that the contract can be completed in January 2023, as you can see, they have completed about 20% of the job at chainage 6.0km and 32.2% of job at Ogbomoso-Fapote as of last week Monday.”

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