Motorists plying the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway have continued to recount their woes as the condition of the highway deteriorates.
Survey by our correspondent revealed that road accidents have become almost a daily occurrence at the failed portions of the dual carriage expressway particularly between Okigwe and Umuahia, Umuahia and Isiala Ngwa South, and Aba/ Imo River bridge at the boundary with Rivers.
The Federal Government, in 2012, said it had awarded contract for the total reconstruction of the road but findings by The PUNCH revealed that work is still at a very slow pace.According to the FG, two different construction firms have been engaged to fix the highway but only skeletal work appears on-going at the manageable sections of the road while bad portions have been left by the contractors to deteriorate.
The worst hit is between Okigwe and Umuahia which is under imminent total collapse, thus forcing motorists to resort to Nunya/ Isuikwuato/ABSU/Ihube by-pass, which is also under serious erosion threat.A section of the by-pass at Amiyi Isuikwuato cut into two by erosion since last year is yet to receive any meaningful attention as efforts to fix it seem to have been defied largely due to the use of substandard materials.
Speaking to The PUNCH on the sorry- state of the road, a truck driver, Mr. Emeka Igbogadi whose vehicle broke down at Ofeme section of the road, blamed the federal government for failing to speed up work on the road.He appealed to contractors handling the highway to as a matter of urgency carry out remedial work at the failed portions of the road to make them passable in the interim.
According to him, the federal government has no justifiable excuse not to totally overhaul the expressway considering its inestimable economic importance to the country.” This remains the only link road between the North , the East and South South regions,” he said.Another driver, Nkem Jasper said it would be an unpardonable sin against South East and South South people by President Goodluck Jonathan if he failed to rehabilitate the road before 2015 considering the huge support given to him by the regions in 2011 when he promised to rebuild the road if voted into power.Similarly, Abia State House of Assembly had in a recent resolution, called on the federal government to mandate the contractors handling the project to give immediate attention to the worst sections of the road to make them passable pending the time something permanent could be done on them.
The lawmakers decried the continued deterioration of the road, saying it had brought untold hardship to the people of the state who have remained the highest victims of carnages and loss of goods on the highway due to road accidents.Just recently, 22 students of the University of Nigeria Nsukka escaped death by the whiskers when their bus veered off from the highway while the driver was reportedly trying to avoid a dangerous pothole in the middle of the road.
The students who were on their way to Imo State for the funeral of the late mother of their course mate sustained various degrees of injuries, even though no life was lost. Punch
