Rehabilitation work has commenced on the dilapidated Port Harcourt road, Aba, Abia State.
The road which is one of the two major entries into Aba from the Enugu–Port Harcourt expressway has been in a state of disrepair for over 10 years as successive governments abandoned the road. Even heavy duty trucks no longer ply the road due to deep gullies covered with weeds on the dual carriage way.
Ikpeazu had on May 5, 2017, flagged off the rehabilitation of the 11-kilometre Port Harcourt road, during a ceremony witnessed by his Ebonyi State counterpart, Chief Dave Umahi, in Aba.
The governor announced that the contract for the rehabilitation works which will include a six- lane road has been awarded to Setraco Construction Company.
When South-East Voice visited the road, no staff of Setraco Company was available for comment.
However, some business owners commended the state government for commencing the rehabilitation of the road and pleaded for strict supervision of the company to ensure quality work and timely completion.
A dealer on electrical equipment, Charles Onyeaku, who lamented that many businesses had closed shop due to the dilapidated state of the road, explained that Port Harcourt road is the area that hosts fabricators of machine tools, electrical installations and heavy duty equipment and ought not to have been allowed to deteriorate to the extent that trees have grown on the road.
“Port Harcourt road is the home of the construction industry in Eastern Nigeria. Many tools for construction company equipment and heavy duty trucks are fabricated here. It is bad that the government allowed such an important road to deteriorate to this extent.”
You can see weeds and trees growing on the Uratta and Ohabiam junctions. We thank God that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has fulfilled his promise of commencing rehabilitation. We pray the contractors are supervised to deliver quality work.”
Chief Press Secretary to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, Mr. Enyinnaya Appolos, in a statement, said the new Port Harcourt road would be a six-lane road with a dedicated BRT lane.
