Government of Ogun has disclosed that the immediate past Governor of the state, Senator Ibikunle Amosun left N202 billion debt on road projects alone.
The government also revealed its plans to begin payment of compensation to owners of properties demolished by the Amosun’s administration.
The last administration had demolished some structures to pave way for the expansion of some roads across the state.
This was contained in a statement released on Sunday by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Kunle Somorin.
The CPS quoted the Commissioner for Works, Engr. Ade Akinsanya, to have disclosed that “The Dapo Abiodun administration inherited outstanding debt of N202billion from the Amosun government on roads alone.”
According to him, the state government now has billions of compensation claims to contend with in addition to looking for huge sums of money to complete the abandoned roads.
The Commissioner was quoted to have said that “the demolitions carried out by Amosun’s administration were unnecessary, adding that it ended up compounding the problems being faced by the present government.”
He also said the governor has approved the compensation payment, which will be in phases.
The commissioner said the state government has decided on the policy of no demolition in its project execution, except where necessary and unavoidable.
“Our road design and construction is such that we try to avoid demolition. It is actual not necessary to demolish while constructing roads, unless it is actually unavoidable.
“The same thing applies to bridge construction. Most of the bridges constructed by that regime were a waste of resources. For instance, on the entire stretch of the 19kilometers Atan-Lusada-Agbara road has only one bridge. And the length is short,” he said.