Kingsley Mgbeahuruike, Abia State Commissioner for Works in the dissolved cabinet of Governor Theodore Orji, in this interview with UGOCHUKWU EZENWA gives a summary of the achievements of his ministry and the legacy projects of the governor Can you begin with the track record of your achievements till date? While in Governor Theodore Orji’s administration, I crossed 52 roads and the tempo is still upbeat; the excitement and enthusiasm that go with road construction in Abia State is like no other. A few examples will suffice: currently, we have been in ‘operation clean up Aba roads’. We are counting 16 roads and beyond. As I am talking to you we have finished the domestic access roads inclusive of Brass Road, Junction Road down to Nwala; we have finished the Nwagba Street and the longest one-Nnamdi Azikiwe Road, as well as Milverton; Ngwa Road by the time of this publication would have been delivered. We are already in Port Harcourt Road. We are at Ogbor Hill from Opobo Junction to Isam. We have finished Umuoba Road from Obikabia Junction to the bridge. These completed roads are ready for commissioning by the governor. The worrisome Uruka Road that connects Umuahia to Aba is being tackled and will be ready in one month. We have started the Ekeagbara Road and the governor was very impressed when he visited the site. Hopefully, the road will be ready before the rains start. But we have done the major job there. In the next two weeks, we will get the road to total asphalting to the NNPC depot at Osisoma. What about the Geometric Access Road in Aba? Many people don’t know about this Geometric Access Road and I think I have to talk a little bit about it. By December, we went there with the governor of Anambra State and the former Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, the owner of the power station told the governor that the place was going to be commissioned by February and there was no access road leading to it. The governor promised to deliver before the date of commissioning, a 1.5 kilometre road to the plant all the way from the main road close to it. This road was completed and delivered by the first week of February. That road is very important because Geometric is the very first private power station in this country. Of course you know the importance of the Geometric Power Plant, which is now ready to power Aba and Nnewi into fully commercialised and industrial zones. How were you able to facilitate construction work at the Enugu-Port Harcourt Express Road? You must give kudos to Governor Theodore Orji on the remarkable progress that is currently on going on the reconstruction of the expressway. The Port Harcourt – Enugu Express Road until now was the worst federal highway in this country. The governor sent me to the minister several times, and we visited him three times with the governor and some prominent Abia citizens; today we can comfortably say that that express road is virtually passable because you will be impressed by the work that has been done. We usually challenged the minister and the federal government by carrying out maintenance work on the road to make it passable during the rainy season. And they promised us they would do a follow up and as I am talking to you a great job is being carried out on that road. What about the surrounding communities? All the senatorial zones have been fully accommodated in Governor Orji’s road construction projects. Again, a few examples suffice. As I earlier stressed, we are doing a road in Isiala Ngwa North from Ntigha Junction to Obikabia Road. We have done 17 kilometres of asphalt till date. Our intention is to join that road from Ntigha to Obikabia Junction such that if you are driving or travelling from Mbawsi to Umuahia, you could have the choice of using either side of the road with a diversion from Umuahia to Ntigha Road around Mbawsi and from Ogbor Hill, you can make a quick entry into Ikot Ekpene. The road network stretches along in a web of interconnections among these communities and local governments. I can only accommodate a few for brevity sake. Are the people of Aba happy at these on-going changes in road reconstruction? The response has been laudable. Each time the governor is in town, the citizens would be waving at him with appellations and joyful singing. When we got to Ngwa Road recently it was all songs coming from the market women. A carrot seller confessed her carrots often decayed for lack of patronage since buyers had no access road to her store. Now she sings a different song. These days, she said, business is brisk, all thanks to the new access road. This is the typical mood of the people this time around such that anytime T. A. Orji is in Aba, the greeting becomes tumultuous, with the citizens hailing him and shouting “Imela onyeisi, Imela onyeisi,” or “thank you governor.” How solid are these roads and their drainages, if any? The old roads you knew are not anything comparable to what you knew in the past. A select and competitive number of contractors as well as constant supervision with sanctions for poor quality delivery ensure we get value for our money. Quality asphalting goes round the roads in the state capital including Umuwaya that was once problematic as well as the other roads under construction How were you able to contain some of the recalcitrant residents of Aba on this issue of illegal structures on the drainage systems? We started with the demolition of these illegal structures, mostly junks along the Port Harcourt Road with the assistance of our special task force. There is a special task force, an environmental task force, that is doing that. And the governor now has another special team made up of four people – the Commissioner for Works, the chairman of ASOPADEC, the Commissioner for Agriculture and the Senior Special Assistant on Security. One of the best things you can notice in Aba now is that immediately you get to Osisioma Park, down to Alaoji Motor Spare Parts shed, a clean median environment shows up. Have you taken inventory of the total number of roads that need the attention of your ministry in Aba? That was my first assignment as Works Commissioner. I moved from Arochukwu to the end of Ukwa, to know the roads that the military had delivered, the ones that needed to be taken care of, aggregating some roads under a major area of concentration in the four major towns of Abia State – Arochukwu, Ohafia, Umuahia and Aba. We have all the roads in those areas and even streets on my table, including those that were initially left out because of the involvement of the NDDC. What’s your game plan for Arochukwu? Arochukwu Local Government has the largest chunk of roads we are doing. We are doing a twenty -nine kilometre road for Arochuwu people. Our experience on the Arochukwu-Ohafia road made us take a policy of not undertaking any road construction during the rainy season. Because the rains washed off the roads we tried to work on. So we resorted to straffing. You need to go back there and see what we are doing. We have not done much though. The governor insists that we tell the people the truth. This is not the period when you’ve done one kilometre of a road while claiming to have delivered 10. But we have a major road that is on going from Ndi Oji Abam to Ndi Okereke through Ihiechiowa. It is being handled by an Arochukwu son, a very competent contractor. We are close to the bridge after the federal government stopped construction work and was unable to take it further four years after. There is also this very impressive road we are doing now from Abiriba Junction to Etitiama Nkporo. We have done half of that road, which is about 30 kilometres. The road is now accessible. How is the state government tackling the issue of dangerous bridges like the one between Arochukwu and Ndi Oji Abam Road and the Abam-Bende Road. How far has the reconstruction gone? That’s the bridge am talking about. The Ndi Oji Abam-Ndi Okereke Road now under construction would lead to this bridge. The people that built that bridge that had the first contract did a shabby job. They decided to re-route the river, but unfortunately it was not successful. So, we are building a new bridge, that is why the road construction has to wait for now. The governor has been there and we are mobilising the contractor to get on with the job. When completed, it would be easier to drive to Arochukwu. Then the Omenuko Bridge, a dangerous and narrow passageway, is a federal government project awarded to Nigercat. Our governor has been pleading with the company to go on site and save us from further loss of lives.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 13:41:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015