Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), says it will construct, rehabilitate and sustain 500km feeder roads across the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Benue.
The State Project Coordinator, Mr Mone Aernyi disclosed this on Wednesday in Makurdi when he led the management team of the project on a courtesy visit to the Speaker, Benue Assembly, Mr Titus Uba.
“The project is a rural development concept initiated by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
“It is co-financed by the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB) and the French Development Bank (AFD) to intervene in 18 States and Benue is fortunate to be among them.
“The project is to construct all-weather rural roads to facilitate the transportation of food crops as well as to establish food processing centres around agro-logistics hubs for both local and international trade processes.
“These roads, if constructed will help in reducing the difficulty associated with rural travel.
“Easy access will also mean a boost in food production and internally generated revenue. This implies that local economies and rural livelihoods will surge,” he said.
He informed the speaker that the continued funding of counterparts for the sustainability of the project depends largely on the legislature.
“Keep passing budgets to support RAAMP and enact legislation to establish State Rural Roads Maintenance Agency otherwise, these rural roads will not achieve the desired goals,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Speaker, Mr Christopher Adaji, pledged that the assembly would give the organisation maximum support to enable it to realize its goals.
Responding, Uba urged the organisation to be interfacing with the House from time to time for the overall benefit of the state, stressing that they were partners-in-progress.
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