By Onwukwe Ezeru
Special Correspondent, Umuahia
A delegation from the headquarters of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abidjan, led by Mwila Katambula, the bank’s transport specialist, has inspected federal roads in Abia State preparatory to the release of funds.
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, who received the team and the accompanying one from the Federal Ministry of Works, Abuja at Government House, Umuahia, said Abia is eager to see the commencement of the reconstruction of major roads in Aba, especially Port Harcourt Road and Ikot Ekpene Road.
“Road infrastructure is very important to us in Aba,” Ikpeazu stressed.
“Apart from being the commercial nerve centre of Abia, Aba is the SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) centre of Nigeria. Aba is very important to the economy of both Abia and Nigeria.
“Road infrastructure, waste management, and storm water management are the challenges we face in Aba.
“Abia State does not have the resources to do good work on Port Harcourt and Ikot Ekpene Roads. With your visit today, you’ve renewed our hope that help will come very soon and the roads will be fixed.
“On our part we have tried to do what is required of us in terms of ensuring that the groundwork is done to enable the AfDB come in.”
Katambula reiterated that the AfDB is “eager to participate in the development of Abia State. Our mission today is a follow up to the meeting we had before, and we want to ensure that everything is ready because we want to fast track the projects that the bank will take up in Abia.”
The delegation later met with Commissioners Eziuche Ubani (Works) and Obinna Oriaku (Finance) and other top government officials.
Ubani led the two teams to Aba to assess Port Harcourt and Ikot Ekpene Roads about which the AfDB is doing technical analysis and studies before releasing funds for their repair.
Ubani told the delegation that the state government “is desperate to fix roads in Abia, and Aba in particular, to stimulate economic activities and drive development across the state.”
He said the state has so far done “a good number of roads” which fall within its responsibility, “but we can’t fix federal roads without first agreeing on terms of fixing them with the federal government.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have the amount of money required to fix these roads, especially Port Harcourt and Ikot Ekpene Roads, that is why we are delighted to have the AfDB here together with a team from the Federal Ministry of Works, to see the level of deterioration of these roads.”
