Obiano declares state of emergency on Anambra roads, sacks three road contractors

Anambra state government has declared a state of emergency on Anambra roads even as three defaulting contracting firms working on the state roads have been sacked for incompetence.

The state has also set up Anambra Design and Review Committee on roads headed by the Commissioner for Works, Engr Marcel Ifejiofor to monitor developments on the roads.

The Commissioner disclosed these in his office in Awka during an interactive session with members of the state’s Correspondents ‘Chapel.
According to him, Governor Willie Obiano has asked the citizenry to monitor all the roads in the state as the contractors embark on intervention and report any contractor doing a shoddy job.

He added that the government had all the rights to sue any contractor that failed.

Ifejiofor said the state had listed 14 contracting firms to intervene on the dilapidated roads in Anambra North and South respectively while Anambra Road Maintenance Agency ARMA, with some other contractors the Governor approved would take care of the Central.

He said Governor Willie Obiano administration was not sleeping on the bad roads that had almost taken over the state, assuring those coming for the Yuletide would see a different Anambra before Christmas.

However, he lamented that the state had over 1,000 active erosion sites scattered across the 179 communities, which according to him were the exclusive right of the federal government

He said that findings by the government had shown that most of the gully erosion sites were caused by wrong channelling of water.

He further regretted that some people in the state intentionally built and dumped refuse on water channels which resulted in blockage of water flow.

Ifejiofor said the government was worried about the rate at which some people in the state ignored advice on ways to check the menace of erosion.