From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has promised that the federal government would construct a flyover bridge at Abakpa junction in Enugu to minimise traffic gridlock and enhance the business fortunes of the state.
He made the promise at the weekend during his visit to the ongoing reconstruction of the collapsed bridge at New Artisan Market, Enugu.
Umahi thanked Governor Peter Mbah for the initiative to handle the dualisation of 24 kilometers of Enugu axis of the Enugu – Abakaliki-Ogoja Trans – Sahara Highway and noted that the intervention had closed the gap in the road infrastructure intervention efforts of the government in the state. He then directed immediate soil tests and design of the bridge. He commended the contractors handling projects he visited for the quality of job being done and directed RCC Limited to remobilise immediately to the site.
It is expected that the state government will fund the execution of the project and afterwards get a refund from the FG through the MTN tax credit scheme.
He commended the efforts of the president in fixing road infrastructure in South East.
“The president has given very serious and adequate attention to the road infrastructure in South East.”he said, while urging the people to keep faith with the federal government’s programmes for economic recovery, as reiterated in his recent nationwide broadcast.
“Only a businessman’s background will understand the importance of that address. The address is laden with a lot of hope, laden with a lot of economic activities and a lot of relief packages for our people.
“I thank the people of South East. I thank the Igbo communities all over the country for not protesting. We are not going to protest. We want proper integration in the affairs of this country, and President Bola Tinubu has started it by giving an Igbo man the Minister of Works, first in history. We had been excluded in governance and in development in the past” he said
In his remarks, the Governor of Enugu State, commended the governors of South East for their synergy between the state government and the Federal Government as a governance imperative for the development and progress of the state.
“Let me start first with expressing on behalf of the government and the people of Enugu State our profound gratitude and our deep appreciation to the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of this country, and also to the minister who has shown tireless commitment since we had this incident last year. The minister must have visited here over 10 times. From the onset, he has expeditiously came to the site and assessed what was happening immediately we called on Mr. president to assist because this is indeed a major gateway. And we all know the value of having a seamless transportation system. The road is one of those seamless transportation systems” he said, adding that the infrastructure would not only serve Enugu but the whole South East.
On the critical value of the road, he said: “So this major gateway would have not only affected just the people of Enugu but indeed the entire people of South East and also those from South South. If you are driving from Port Harcourt to parts of northern Nigeria, you would have to travel through this route”
In a statement , Mba further called on the people of South East to remain undaunted in their resolve not to protest against Mr. President’s economic recovery policies.
“Again, we want to continue to call on our people to go about their business and know that if we do destroy our assets, we’re going to also still use the wealth of our common patrimony to fix those assets. So we must remain focused on our work and continue to do our work. Finally, we cannot end this without commending what the minister is doing, not just to the South East, but to the entire country” the governor, said. ENDS