Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah, has commissioned a mega asphalt production plant built by his administration.
Inaugurating the plant in Enugu on Thursday, Governor Mbah explained that the state would, in addition, produce the inputs for asphalt production, noting that these moves would drastically reduce the cost of road construction for the state.
“This is an event that brings us closer to our dream of bidding our collapsed, unpaved roads goodbye. This special and state-of-the-art asphalt production plant is designed to produce 160 tons of asphalt per hour. For context, it will produce 2.5 tons every minute and 160 tons per hour. What this means is that if we decide to work 20 hours a day, we can produce 3,200 tons every day. This is not seen anywhere in the South East.
“The interesting thing is that we are also committed to making sure that we produce the inputs. In a few days from now, we are going to inaugurate a plant where we will be mining and crushing the stones that we need to feed this plant.
“It is our hope that we are going to start the exploration of bitumen in the state because we are also blessed with bitumen. So, in a few years’ time, we are going to be able to produce the bitumen that will feed this plant. It means that we will get the bitumen here, get the stones and sand so that everything is made in Enugu,” the governor said.
Mbah added that the inauguration of the asphalt plant had brought his administration closer to achieving its target of over 1,000km of roads per annum.
Earlier, the commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engr Gerald Otiji; special adviser to the governor on Project Development and Implementation, Arc Uchenna Nwatu and the technical manager of the plant, Mitesh Prajapati, explained that the plant was of high standard and fit for bringing the governor’s dream of infrastructural transformation to fruition in Enugu.
