Abia to resume road reconstruction November

Abia Commissioner for Works,  Mr Bob Ogu, says  execution of road projects in Aba  will resume in the second week of November when rains are expected to subside.

Ogu gave the assurance during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Aba on Saturday.

He said that the state government would also revisit newly-constructed roads that had started failing such as Faulks Road and Ekwereazu Road.

He said that work was ongoing on Ngwa Road, a major link road in Aba, expected to be  completed soon in preparation  for inauguration.

Ogu also said that work was ongoing on Ohanku, Omuma and Osusu roads, adding that the government was taking the reconstruction gradually.

“Once the rains abate, you will see a lot of work on Port Harcourt, Obohia and Ohanku roads and on adjoining ones such as Okoro and Ibandan roads and others around Ama-Nmong to tidy the area up.

“There are other roads important to the government, and we agreed with the contractor that they will do the entire drains and earthwork and give us one lane that is asphalted.

“Port Harcourt Road is a six-lane road;  at the time of the agreement, we gave the contractor money we agreed upon, but unfortunately, one month after the payment, the rains came and had been pounding.

“You can do drains in rainy season but not the earthwork, and filling with laterite during the rains is messy unless you can have dry days.

“They had gone far and had less than 200 meters to complete the drains before the rains came,” he said.

Ogu said that relocation of poles on the road delayed work on it as it took time for the government to negotiate the out-off-use function payment for the time the lines on the road would not have electricity supply.

According to him, the poles  have been relocated and the contractor returned to site.

Ogu said that before the end of the next dry season, the projects would have reached 80 percent completion or would be totally  completed.

The commissioner regretted that some newly-constructed roads were failing because businessmen who moved heavy products such as tiles were exceeding the carrying-capacity of the roads.

He advised against  dumping of refuse in drains, calling on the state residents to protect government projects. (NAN)