Infrastructure Rehabilitation : Abia Residents Complain Of Slow Pace

Three months after the State Government flagged off the Road Rehabilitation at Aba, the commercial city, of Abia State, most of the roads are still in their forty per cent completion.

While some of the residents are complaining about the pace of work and what they think should be done, the contractors, however, seem to disagree with them.

The commuters, motorists and business community at Aba have to endure the heavy vehicular traffic caused by the flood due to blockage of the drainage that has been clogged up with debris and  waste particles dumped on the road sides .

Some of the drainage at Aba are blocked with waste debris dumped by the roadsides while petty traders do their selling on top of them, and, annually due to perennial rainfall, flooding on the road has become a norm, causing vehicular traffic and gridlock .

At Udeagabala Road, some of the areas have been asphalted, the residents said the road rehabilitation is a mockery which the contractor do not agree with.

The State Government is, however, tackling the challenges of the Old Expressway by constructing a pedestrian walk way and a dual carriage road system with a magnificent drainage system that would collect flood water from Faulks Road and other connecting link roads.

At Ururuka Roads, new drainage systems are being constructed while road rehabilitation is at 50 per cent completion at Umuola and Ukaegbu Roads which were impassable over the last decade,. Meanwhile, the contractor handling the removal of debris from the blocked drainage said that the problems were enormous but that they were trying to correct it.

Some of the Residents of Aba are, however, grateful for the government interventions but stressed on the areas that should be looked into.

Economists have stressed that for trade and commerce to thrive, which would boost economic developments, the need to provide a better road infrastructure must be one of the major priority of Government in authority.