Abia State government has elevated Aba Urban Renewal Committee, the office driving the infrastructural renewal of the Aba metropolis, to a full-fledge government parastatal with the name, Aba Urban Renewal Authority.
The new agency will oversee the general rehabilitation work in Aba including waste management and revenue generation.
The state Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, announced this in a statement
signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Godwin Adindu. Governor Ikpeazu explained that the elevation become necessary to enable the committee exercise its functions with the full weight and backing of law as a government agency, adding that the agency will be instrumental to the fulfillment of the government policy in relation to the transformation and restoration of the city of Aba.
The governor pointed out that the development was in response to the good work the committee did in restoring order and sanity to the city of Aba.
He said that the Aba Urban Renewal Committee had been very committed to the task of driving the new programme of park reform, relocation of markets and eradication of street trading and has also done creditably in enforcing government regulation on the demolition of illegal structures built on service lanes and on top of bridges.
The governor also commended the chairman and members of the committee for
enforcing the new programme of reformation and upgrading of the markets to their original master plan which have ensured that illegal shops and other structures that distort the original plan are removed.
The governor further said that the vision of his administration was to develop the city of Aba as the capital of the small and medium-scale enterprise in Nigeria, stressing that the new agency would act as the vehicle towards the actualization of that dream.
He thanked the residents of Aba and the business operators for the support and cooperation they have shown to the committee, and further urged them to be partners in progress with government in restoring the lost glory of the ancient city of commerce and trade.