Eight years of decayed Imo roads and Ihedioha’s interventions to put them right

As a matter of fact, anyone in Imo would easily observe that in this day and age, the State has a lot of collapsed  infrastructures, as almost all the roads built by the immediate past government are in a very bad shape, despite the billions of Naira allegedly spent on them by the Rochas Okorocha administration.

This is very unfortunate, because during the time of the above mentioned regime, the people of the state were always told that the government had built more than 1000 roads. Many Imo citizens actually complained about the roads of being substandard, describing them as ‘China roads’ (a funny way of describing badly done things which are not of high quality).

It was not only the ordinary people in the street that complained about the poorly constructed roads, professional bodies such as the Nigerian Society of Engineers NSE, Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria COREN and many others also cautioned the administration on the dangers of putting the people at risk with the type of construction that went on in the State, especially the projects that could easily put people in trouble if allowed. Some of them include the Flyovers and Tunnels which many had described as death traps.

But with the coming to power of Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha’s administration, a new hope has enveloped the State. The first move he made to checkmate the anticipated problem created by the Okorocha’s administration in Infrastructural development was to invite professional bodies like the Nigeria Society of Engineers to inspect the projects and advise him on the way forward.

They have since submitted their reports, in which Ihedioha was advised to close the two flyovers, until quality construction is carried on them. In the case of the Tunnels, the Governor was asked to demolish them entirely as they were poorly done and in a position to cause serious havoc on both pedestrians and motorists if allowed to stay.

Meanwhile as at the time of writing this article, the two flyovers situated at Orji and Amakohia has been closed by the order of Governor Ihedioha, while only some parts of the Tunnels were still open for use by few motorists passing through them, pending when they will finally be demolished as recommended by the professional body that carried out the engineering survey.

The Governor have also in order to tackle the scourge of bad roads in the state, formally awarded contracts for the reconstruction of 14 critical roads across the State. This according to Ihedioha, was done to relieve the people’s sufferings, which were becoming unbearable on every passing day.

These roads includes; the Naze-Nekede-Ihiagwa-Obinze road, Ahiara Junction-Okpala Road, Aba Branch-Ahiara Junction road and the Imo Stare Teaching Hospital Road. Others include, the Umuowa-Old Orlu Road; MCC-Toronto Road; Mgbidi–Oguta road; Ogwoghoranya-Avutu, with spur at Avutu Poultry Farm Road and the Douglas–Emmanuel College-Naze Junction road.

Also captured under this phase of road reconstruction are the Assumpta-Port Harcourt Road, Control Post-World Bank–Umuguma Road, Okigwe Road-IMSU-Bishop Court Roundabout Road and the Concorde Boulevard Ring Road-Zuma–PH Road. Seven of these roads have already been flagged off.

Similarly, recently at Onuimo, Isu and Mbaitoli Local Government Areas, the Governor flagged off one of the most ambitious rural road construction projects, valued at N13.5 billion. It is a World Bank assisted Rural Access and Mobility Project, RAMP, which involves over 70 rural road networks with a cumulative distance of 381 kilometers across most of the 27 Local Government Areas of the state.

In his reaction, the senior special assistant to the governor on rural development, Hon. Richmond Osuji, made it clear that the Bureau for Rural Development will ensure the compliance of the contractors with the technical specification, budget and timeline for the completion of the projects.

The interesting thing about these roads awarded for reconstruction is that well known and highly reputable road construction companies will be involved, unlike what we had in the past, when people with just head pans and shovels were given road work in Imo, without any form of supervision.

AMBROSE NWAOPARA  the writer is an author and a renowned life coach