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Raymond Ozoji, Awka
Anambra state government has taken road construction to hard-to-reach areas of Anambra-west, Anambra-east, Ogbaru and Ayamelum local government councils, said to have lacked access roads since the state was created in 1991.
The state commissioner for works, Engr. Marcel Ifejiofor disclosed this to newsmen in Awka at the weekend.
Ifejiofor said that Governor Willie Obiano had taken road construction to communites across the Omambala river which hitherto had not been fortunate to witness tarred roads even though they were predominantly peasant farmers.
He said government would construct a 9 kilometer road from Umueje in Ayamelum local government area to the oil rig with a bridge and another road from Mmiata to Nzam in Anambra-west with bridge also.
According to him, another road would be constructed from Mmiata to Aguleri-Otu in Anambra-east local government area. He said that while the bridge is completed, another road would be constructed at Onono community in Anambra-west council area being handled by TAMAD Construction, noting that Onono community did not have a tarred road and that they accessed their community through Onitsha and neighbouring Delta state.
The commissioner further disclosed that the state government was constructing a road at Ogwuaniocha community in Ogbaru local government area of Anambra state where he said the community had not seen a road for the very first time since Anambra was created in 1991.
He said the project was being handled also by TAMAD Construction and that government equally plans to build a bridge connecting Ogwuaniocha and Ihiala communites across the Ulasi river to ease movement from Ogbaru to Owerri in Imo state.
He said Awa-Amansea-Ndiukwuenu road was ongoing including other road projects across the state and that the state government was also building an International Conference Centre slated for commissioning on or before April next year. He added that government would in no distant time unveil some of its projects to the citizenry.
The commissioner stated that Onitsha and Ogbaru were currently busy with ongoing road construction works being handled by Nigerian Army Engineers and a host of other contractors but expressed worry also that one of the reasons for road failures was blockage of the drainages, pointing out that virtually all the water ways in Onitsha have been blocked as people built shops and other structures on drainage systems.
He said Ogwuikpele and Ifite-Ogwuari communites in Ayamelum local government area were other very remote communites that Governor Willie Obiano has taken road construction to while emphasising that Nzam, the council headquarters of Anambra-west was the only council headquarters in the country without an access road to the secretariat.
On the state capital Awka, the commissioner stated that Obiano had directed that all the internal roads in Awka be constructed even though he said they were being confronted with daunting challenges in constructing roads in Awka due to the peculiar nature of the town as most of them had vested interest in ancestral homes and heritage which they could not jettison for road construction to take place.
