Anambra Starts Repair of Roads to Ease Yuletide Commuting

The Anambra State Government said it has awarded all failed roads across the state for repairs ahead of the Christmas and New Year festivities.

Mr. Marcel Ifejiofor, the State Commissioner for Works disclosed this during an interactive session with journalists on Wednesday in Awka.

Ifejiofor said that the jobs being executed under ‘Anambra Roads Intervention’ Project was solely to fix bad portions on roads across the area ahead of the upcoming festivities.

He said that Gov. Willie Obiano had approved 13 contracting firms with the capacity to meet the target to handle roads in Anambra North and South Senatorial Districts.

“The roads in Anambra Central would be done by engineers from the state Ministry of Works and some contractors to be added to them,” he said.

The Commissioner explained that apart from those selected for the intervention, that other firms were still handling state government’s construction works.

Ifejiofor said the state government equally engaged the Army Engineer Corps to fix bad portions on Onitsha-Owerri Road.

He explained that government decided to fix the failed portions on Onitsha-Owerri Road due to obvious dangers the bad road had caused to residents and road users  in recent times.

“We are aware of the recent position of the federal government that it might not refund state government for money spent in the repairs of federal roads.

“Just a few days ago, somebody died on Owerri road in Onitsha as a result of the accident occasioned by bad road.

“We cannot fold hands to see our people die, and so, if we fix the roads, write for refund and they refused, so be it,” he said.

Ifejiofor, who blamed a lot of failed roads in the state on several bad federal roads, said the state was contemplating putting barricades in some roads to prevent heavy duty vehicles from plying on them

He also said that his ministry had come up with measures to ensure that firms handling construction work for the state adhere to specifications.

He hinted that three firms that performed below agreement were recently sacked and warned contractors in the state to live up to their responsibilities.