…oil-rich $12.5bn economy suffers deficit
Abia State government has set up an Infrastructure Development Council (IDC) to cater for the infrastructural needs of the state. Governor Okezie Ikpeazu is the chairman of the council.
The council would work to compute the infrastructure needs of the state, the costs of developing them, and possibility of raising funds to execute the projects.
Abia, an oil-rich South-Eastern state, with an estimated gross domestic product (GDP) economy of over $12.5 billion, suffers huge infrastructural deficit much like other Nigerian sub-national states.
Richard Nwala, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Works informed in Umuahia, the state capital while speaking to newsmen on the outcome of a meeting the governor held with contractors handling road projects in the state.
He said that the incoming commissioner of Works would serve as the vice chairman of the infrastructure council.
According to him, other agencies that made the list of the IDC include: Abia state Road Maintenance Agency (ABROMA), Nigerian Erosion and Watershed Management Programme (NEWMAP), Rural Access and Mobility Project, (RAMP), and the ministry of Education.
Nwala said Governor Ikpeazu directed all the contractors handling road projects in the state to go back to site immediately, with a view to completing such projects; adding that funds had been released to them.
The permanent secretary said that the governor directed that a total of 20 roads should be completed within the first 100 days of his second term of office.
The roads include: completion of the rehabilitation of Emejiaka; Opobo/Emelogu, Ntigha/Nbawsi; Etche, Dan-Fodio; Immaculate; St Paul’s road in Aba, as well as maintenance of Aba, Umuahia and Ohafia township roads.
Others are the Umuikaa/Umuene/Umuob, Ebenma Egege, Ohokobe Afara roads in Umuahia; Ukome Road; Agbama Housing Estate roads; Station Avenue and Udeagbala roads, respectively.
The state ministry of Works was charged to ensure the timely completion of the projects and adherence to specifications.
