Asa Development Union in Ukwa West local government area of Abia State has thanked the state governor, Alex Otti, for recovering over 10,000 hectares of land acquired for the abandoned Enyimba Economic City project.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration of Okezie Ikpeazu acquired the land along the Aba-Port Harcourt expressway for the N500bn project, which Ikpeazu said would create over 600,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The union passed the message in an address its president general, Goodluck Nwauju, delivered when Otti flagged off the reconstruction of the 11.1-kilometre Obehie—Umudobia—Owaza road in the area.
It said Otti had demonstrated his love for the community through the recovery of the land and his administration’s choice of Owaza Asa to site the state’s Industrial and Innovation Park (AIIP).
Speaking at the event, the governor said the road’s completion would attract significant changes that would signify the end of the state’s long neglect of its oil-bearing area.
He asserted that the project is about creating access to the towns and villages along these corridors, reviving dormant economic assets, and opening new horizons.
“My assurance is that every support we can give as a government shall be availed to you as we work together to create a robust industrial cluster that will accelerate the rapid socio-economic development of the area,” he added.
In an address, the commissioner for environment, Joe Ogbonna, likened Otti’s administration to that of the late Sam Mbakwe of old Imo State in quality service, noting that the road took 67 years to be remembered.
Earlier, his Works counterpart, Otumchere Oti, said Otti had continued to connect communities through road infrastructure, describing the road as a gateway into the community and the AIIP.
