Residents of Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia, on Thursday urged the state government to speed up work on roads undergoing reconstruction, to reduce the stress of gridlocks.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews, the residents accused the construction companies handling the jobs of being ‘too slow and sloppy.’

Mr. Anayo Okoro, a banker, said that the delay in the completion of the work was taking its toll on their lives as it was affecting their resumption and closure from work.

“This work started three months ago and we thought that by now the companies would have finished or at worse lessened our sufferings in a city full of failed roads but it was not to be.

“What we see is that the companies block the roads we were using before and in some cases, make the alternatives inaccessible by spoiling them with their trucks and machinery.

“This is making life harder by the day for Aba residents. We know the governor wants to do our roads but the companies should be monitored to ensure that they do not make our case worse than they met it as they seem to be doing now.”

Mrs. Chinazo Nwosu, a business woman, said: “This town is in a total mess. Why are the roads in the state they are? On my street, Umueze Road, they have been removing silt from the drains but they lined it up by the road side instead of carting it away.

“The action has blocked one side of the road and they are also doing re-construction on the road. It is making life hard for us because we find it difficult to go to work in the morning or to retire to our houses in the evening.”

Nwosu said that the ongoing reconstruction work on Umueze Road which started two months ago was too slow and shabbily done, adding that the company should wake up or leave the job, instead of compounding their problems.

Another respondent, Mr. Amalaha Nwangwa, said that the government’s intention to rebuild the roads should not be made to seem like it is a bad thing because of poor handling of the jobs by the companies.

He, therefore, urged the state government to supervise the work and ensure they do not make life more difficult for residents as they do their work.

NAN reports that gridlocks in Aba had increased since the new government began work on seven roads in the city on June 1, making easy access of the city cumbersome for residents. (NAN)

•Photo shows Gov Ikpeazu

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