Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State on Wednesday blamed failure of many roads in the state on the effect of bombardment during the Nigerian Civil War.

Speaking during the flag-off of the reconstruction of the 2.65 km Aba-Umuahia dual carriage way which has defied rehabilitation for close to a decade, Ikpeazu also identified soil texture as one of the factors that cause roads to fail.

Several sections of the road that lead into the state capital from Ubakala junction of the Enugu-Aba-Port Harcourt expressway have remained a nightmare for motorist due to the failed portions.

The immediate past administration of Theodore Orji did much palliative works on the road in trying to fix it but did not achieve much.

Flagging off reconstruction of the road, Governor Ikpeazu said the rehabilitation work would commence from the railway junction in Old Umuahia to Eastern Comfort Hotel, adding that the project would be completed in record time.

He disclosed that he expects that after the reconstruction of the deplorable road, no one would return to it for any palliative work in the next decade and charged the company handling the project, Arab Contractors, to deliver quality work.

“I want to, for the purposes of emphasis, inform everybody here and the leadership and engineers of Arab Contractors here that our ambition is to make sure that nobody will have to return to this road in the next seven years. If I build this road and we now begin to come back with the tax payers’ money on this very stretch of road again, it will make me feel very bad and that will cast doubt on the integrity and capacity of Arab Contractors,” the governor said.

He told enthusiastic Abians that the event marked the beginning of his second year in office and sign of better things for the state.

In the second year of his administration, Ikpeazu assured that priority would be given to agriculture, critical infrastructure and job creation while many more roads would be done this year.

In his address, Commissioner for Works, Hon. Eziuche Ubani, explained that government conducted feasibility study on the road which accounts for why it was awarded to a Grade A contractor.

Ubani noted that the road was important as the Golden Guinea Brewery, Umuahia, was expected to bounce back in a few months time. He also disclosed that it was a major access road to the company and appealed to Abians to co-operate with the contractors to enable them deliver the job on time.

Earlier, the Managing Director of Arab Contractors, Osama Mustapha, had expressed appreciation to the state government for considering the company for the contract and promised to do a professional job and also deliver on time.

•Photo by Ibeabuchi Abarikwu shows Governor Ikpeazu acknowledging greetings from the crowd as he flagged-off the reconstruction of Aba-Umuahia dual carriage way . . . yesterday in Umuahia.

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