The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has said that there are no fewer than 11 federal road projects ongoing in Abia State.
Speaking while on inspection of federal roads in the state, where he was received by Governor Alex Otti, Umahi solicited the governor’s help to sort out issues affecting the building of a trailer park at Arungwa Aba, saying the state government should acquire the place and partner the Federal Government to develop it, together with the private sector.
He commended Otti for bringing visible developments to Abia a few months after assuming office.
The minister listed the roads to include section one of the Port Harcourt-Enugu Express road, which runs from Lokpanta to Abia Tower in Umuahia, which is 100 per cent completed with a trailer park, and section two of the road runs from Umuahia Tower to Aba; rehabilitation of Umuahia–Ikwuano to Ikot Ekpene–Umudike Road with a length of 49.2km; section of Nkporo-Abiriba-Ohafia Road, awarded in 2012, that has been abandoned; Bende-Arochukwu-Ohafia section one awarded in 2018; Aba-Owerri Road awarded in 2020 and others.
Otti said the state was ready to partner with the Federal Government to fix the federal roads in the state. He decried the stress people go through to get to Aba from Port Harcourt and vice versa, saying a journey of 30 minutes now takes people not less than three hours to complete.
The governor also drew attention to the Umuahia-Bende-Abriba-Ohafia, which he said was first awarded by the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) when former President Muhammadu Buhari was the Chairman of PTF under the late General Sani Abacha’s regime.
