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Raymond Ozoji, Awka
The Anambra State Government says it is poised to repair over two million potholes on roads across the three senatorial zones of the state as the rains gradually recede.
The state government has equally gone ahead to make arrangements for contractors that would intervene on the roads in order to achieve the objectives of rehabilitation, reinstatement, patching and maintenance of the roads before Yuletide sets in.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Anambra State Road Maintenance Agency (ARMA) Engr. Emeka Okoye disclosed this to newsmen yesterday at one of the agency’s sites along Ifite road Awka.
Okoye said that as the state governor promised the citizenry, the repair of potholes across the state had started in earnest.
He said some of the sites in the state capital where the agency was carrying out rehabilitation works include Aroma road along Roban stores, Works road, Udoka Estate road, noting that government was prepared to put the roads in good shape.
The ARMA MD explained that government was not able to undertake asphalt patching of potholes during the rainy season because of the soil texture of the roads, which according to him, was the remote reason government had to commence palliatives on the roads as the rains subsided.
He said patching of potholes on the roads would continue till the end of the dry season and that the governor has equally set up Anambra State Clean Up Drainage and Forest Protection domiciled in the ministry of environment.
According to him, the aforementioned agency would ensure that drainages and water channels were not blocked henceforth to avoid issues of flooding that may also lead to road damage and potholes.
He further disclosed that the Anambra State Road Maintenance Agency would deploy the facilities of other contractors to other senatorial zones of the state to patch potholes in those areas, stressing that the potholes have been captured and that the contractors have been identified.
Okoye however pointed out that the essence of zero potholes initiative by the state governor was that apart from patching potholes, government equally created employment opportunities for youths who were involved in the on-going road rehabilitation across the three senatorial zones of the state.
He said by world bank standards, Anambra state is the erosion capital of the world and as a result, the state governor engaged professionals who embarked on a fact-finding mission and came up with a revelation that most of the roads were built with poor drainage systems.
Thus, the governor, according to him, gave a directive that roads constructed henceforth would have drainages with natural termination points in order to reduce erosion menace on the roads, emphasising that ARMA working alongside other contractors hopes to patch over two million square metres of potholes before Christmas.
