Ondo state government said it has secured €3.5 million and about $500,000 from the World Bank for the rapid transformation of rural communities across the state.
It said the fund included N1.5bn counterpart funding would be used to construct 700km of rural roads under Rural Access and Marketing Project (RAAMP), a World Bank-assisted programme.
The special adviser to Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu on Rural and Community Development, Kolawole Babatunde, disclosed this in Akure at the weekend at an interactive session with Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ondo State.
Babatunde, who represented Akoko South East/Akoko South West Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives between 2015-2019, said the rural roads would be constructed in phases and funded through World Bank and the state counterpart fund.
He said the state government keyed into RAAMP for ease of transporting agricultural products to prevent frequent spoilage of farm produce, abd tackle food scarcity as well as grant access for the rural parts of the state for marketing and farming activities.
He said: “This projects will be broken down based on the roads we are intervening in and we’ve gotten
“This is aside the N1.4 billion governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has released as counterpart fund to us. The way it works is that the funding has to get approval of the world bank. We write to them stating the roads we are intervening in, the cost, then the world bank will give approval.
“For every action we take as directorate and agency, we get the approval of Mr Governor first. Then, it comes to us, we finetune, then it goes to the world bank.
“As counterpart fund, we’ve gotten N1.4 billion and when a state pushes such amount, you could be rest assured of what will come in as world bank intervention.
According to him, “We are not limited to the €3.5 million and the US$ 500,000, it is a pool. It depends on how we are able to fast-track our construction that will determine the number the amount we will be able to access.
“We have about 20 states in the project but it has been my prayer that we access more fund than any other state in the country so that we can have more rural roads.”
Credit: The Nation Newspaper
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