Dayo Johnson
5 January 2009
A contract worth N3.8billion for the extension of the National grid to over fifty communities in the oil rich riverine communities have been awarded by the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission OSOPADEC.
The Chairman of the Commission Chief Adewale Omojuwa said this in Akure while speaking with newsmen.
Omojuwa stated that "we have already awarded the N3.8 billion contract for the extension of the national grid from Ugbo-Nla to Igo which will bring electricity to more than 50 coastal communities and the extension of the Igbokoda-Ayetoro road, which presently terminates at Ugbo-Nla to Erunna, a fishing community located seven kilometers away at the cost of N1.6 billion.
"To show our commitment, the state government has paid fifty percent mobilization fees for these contracts to the contractors who have already moved to site and the sum of N600 million has been set aside from our budget to tackle water provision problems in some of our communities".
Omojuwa however said that the drop in the funds of the commission would not affect development and the on going projects in the communities.
About N18 billion was budgeted for the Ondo State Oil-Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC) last year
The allocation however dropped to N12 billion for this year due to what state government officials described as "expectations from the dwindling fortunes of oil in the international market that had greatly affected the price of oil per barrel."
Omojuwa allayed their fears saying, "We will surely make judicious use of the money that is going to be available to us".
Some of the on-going projects include the multi-billion naira Igbokoda-Ayetoro road and its Aboto-Olokola extension with a total budget of nearly N30 billion, the N7 billion land reclamation at Adagbakuja to pave way for the establishment of a new settlement for the itinerant Ilaje and several electricity and water projects.
The Chairman said his commission is not bothered about the cut in revenue "as we are going to make the best use of whatever is available to us to bring development to our people".
The Chairman added that an agreement had been reached with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to take the extension of the national grid from Igo to Owoye "which will effectively bring electricity to virtually all the over 150 communities along the Atlantic Coast."
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