By Emem Idio, Yenagoa

Stakeholders drawn from farmers associations, transport unions, Nigerian Society of Engineers, NSE, chamber of commerce, industry, mines and agriculture , and civil society groups, have endorsed the proposed bills for the establishment of the Bayelsa Rural Access Roads Authority, BRARA, and the Bayelsa State Rural Access Roads Fund, BSRF.

The bills when passed into law and assented to by the state governor, will establish the Bayelsa Rural Access Roads Authority, BRARA, for the purpose of the overall management, development, rehabilitation, reconstruction and maintenance of Class C and D roads in the state while the Bayelsa State Rural Access Roads Fund, BSRF, when established wil provide funding for the Authority.

Speaking at the final review of the draft bills in Yenagoa the Bayelsa State capital , the State Project Management Committee Chairman of Rural Access Agricultural Marketing Project, RAAMP, and Permanent Secretary Ministry of Agriculture , Dr. Hamilton Ekeke, said the passage of the bills into law is the prerequisite condition to access funds from donor agencies to fund RAAMP projects in the state.

Expressing the state government readiness and commitment to the establishment of the Authority, Dr Ekeke said with the final review and inputs from stakeholders, the stage is now set for the transmitting of the draft bills to the state house of assembly for passage into law.

On the importance of the bills to the state, he said: “To make sure that Trunk C and Trunk roads in the state are constructed and maintained in the state. Most of the communities that are engaged in farming needs these roads for the produce to come out for us to live a good life. Some of these produce are locked up in the communities. It is for us to get to the hinterlands so that these foods can be evacuated.”

On his part, the State Coordinator of RAAMP, Dr Paul Ebiefa, said the importance of the bills to the development of the rural and agricultural sectors of the state cannot be overemphasized.

He said: “We are working closely with the state government to ensure that RAAMP comes into existence in the state and the state governor Senator Douye Diri is passionate about making it a reality.

“This meeting was to give the final review for the two bills and we have been able to achieve that by giving that final touch from where it will be moved to the assembly.”

The Project Communication Officer, Tarinyo Akono, said the objective of project is to create access for farmers to enable them bring their produce to the markets so that goods, farm produce can be brought to the market.

He said: “We have identified clusters of farms across the state, we have also done roads selection, priotization, engineering drawings and soil tests on those roads that have been priotized, over 80 Kilometers of roads across the state .

“One of the condition for the World Bank to bring funds is that the state must passed these bills into laws and if these two are established, the project can be declared effective.”