The governor of Osun State, Mr Rauf Aregbesola has expressed the readiness of his administration to partner with construction gaint, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc in the area of road construction.
Governor Aregbesola stated this in Osogbo yesterday during a partnership meeting with a team from the construction company, led by its Head of West Division, Engineer Wolfgong Loesser.
The governor directed the leadership of the Ministry of Road and Transport in the state to conduct the team round the critical roads in the state so as to ascertain the best approach to them.
He said, “My dream is to have the best for the state in terms of road construction and provision of infrastructural facilities, hence the need to partner with the company, being a reputable construction company in the country and the team should be conducted round the critical roads like Osogbo-Iwo Road; East Bypass among others that could assist commerce, socialisation and support growth of the state”.
Aregbesola emphasised that he deliberately invited the company to the meeting, challenging them that it would be wrong of them to concentrate only on Lagos without considering other states, especially in the Western area of the country being a contracting firm which any government should struggle to partner with.
“The work done in Lagos State in the area of road development by the company, which brought economic growth and development to the state was an example of the ability of the company to bring growth to Osun through infrastructure development”, he added.
“Whoever is going to be fair to the phenomenal growth, development and transformation of Lagos must make clear reference to Julius Berger. Berger was a major factor in the infrastructural development of Lagos. I was a participant in reviving the almost stale relationship between Berger and Lagos in 1999.” he explained.
He further stated that the state was not buoyant financially considering what it wants, as the state is the poorest in the Western Nigeria, but “with strong spirit, high hope and superlative desire, we are not afraid of anything, we dream high, we are not daunted by the enormity of what we want and the smallness of our means; we are convinced that we will achieve our aims”.
Expressing confidence in the ability of the construction company to construct good roads based on the meager resources available to the state, he hoped that the company would join hands with it to turn around the state and make it a territory and model of good governance.
Speaking earlier, Loesser said that the company had decided to offer its commitment to work with the administration of Aregbesola for the development and economic growth of the state through superlative road construction.