Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, yesterday flagged off the rehabilitation of the ring road linking four additional roads in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of the state.

The affected roads include the Ohazu, Ozuomba and Ibere roads linking Port Harcourt road as well as the Umuola-Umuokahia road in Obingwa Local Government Area. These bring to 29, the number of roads currently being undertaken by the present administration in Aba in the last seven months. The roads would reconstructed with the use of the rigid cement pavement technology.

Flagging off the four roads, Ikpeazu said that he was touched by the plight of residents of the area, describing the roads as strategic in the economic development of Aba. “It is unfortunate that these people still wade through flood even in dry season,” he stated.

The Governor said that it was to underscore the seriousness which his administration attached to delivering the Ozuomba and Ohazu roads in record time that two contractors were mobilised to the commence work on the roads even before the flag-off ceremony. He, therefore, appealed to those with illegal structures or any other form of attachments that may stall the progress of work on the roads to remove them without delay

.He decried the neglect of the Umuola-Umuokohia Road by successive governments and assured them that his government will carry them along.

Ikpeazu explained that rehabilitation of Obohia Road by the State Government was being delayed due to encumbrances occasioned by the award of the contract for rehabilitation of the road by the Niger Delta Development Commission to a contractor. He assured that the stated government was ready to reconstruct the road if the contractor was not willing to do it.

Earlier in his speech, the Commissioner for Works, Hon Eziuche Ubani, disclosed that barely one week after the Governor visited the road, he decided to flag off the reconstruction of the roads to give the people a sense of belonging and urged them to assist government to do more by paying their taxes.

In their separate speeches, residents of the affected roads including Eze V.U. Asonye, the transition committee chairman of Aba South, Okezie Erondu, Eze Nzenwata Mbakwe and Bishop Edohasim, expressed gratitude to the Governor for coming to their aid after many years of neglect and pledged their support to his administration.

•Photo shows Governor Ikpeazu flagging off work on a road project in Aba.

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