Road Projects Need Strict Supervision, Says Umahi

Minister of works, Engr. Nweze David Umahi, has stressed the need for strict supervision of ongoing projects to deliver quality roads to Nigerians.

Umahi said the government at all levels must synchronise strategic action plans to tackle Nigeria’s inherited accumulation of road infrastructure challenges for a prosperous nation.

The minister made the remark when he visited some of the federal government’s ongoing road projects on the Aba axis of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, which Arab Contractors Nigeria Ltd handles.

In a statement by his special advisor on media, Barr Orji Uchenna Orji, Umahi, who the governor of Abia State received, Dr. Alex Otti, commended the synergy between the state government and the Federal Government of Nigeria.

He said the synergy had resulted in the major road infrastructure facelift in the state.

Umahi lauded the governor’s decision to prioritise road infrastructure development among his strategic development programmes. He said this was pivotal to enhancing commercial activities, a catalyst for local economic growth, and a precursor to self-actualisation by the enterprising people of Abia State.

He also commended the governor for his sense of purpose and power of supervision, which have made a difference in his state’s infrastructure development history.

He said he was gratified that the governor’s prioritising of the development of critical infrastructure had attracted the admiration and praise of the state’s people.

He said, “He has, through the help of the president, made a lot of improvements in the state’s road infrastructure, especially Port Harcourt to Enugu Road. He is always on that road, supervising and inviting me. So, we have gone around some of his projects. And I can assure you, as an engineer, that this man is God sent. With the volume of work and the quality of work he is doing, I can say only God brought him at a time like this. I say to him, if you had this in the past 12 years, Abia would not have been the same. But you know, the Bible says that he makes all things beautiful at the time of God.”

The governor thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the progress made in rehabilitation of the Enugu—Port Harcourt Expressway.

He described the minister’s efforts in supervising the work progress as motivated by passion and determination to revolutionise road infrastructure development and realise the president’s vision of national economic growth and sustainable prosperity.

He said, “I am here with the minister of works, David Umahi, we came for inspection. We have gone to the express road he is building for us.”

Some of the federal road projects visited by the Minister include the Rehabilitation of Enugu – Port-Harcourt Expressway Section III: Enugu-Lokpanta, Enugu State, and the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Enugu-Port Harcourt Dual Carriageway, Section II: Umuahia Tower-Aba Township Rail/Road Crossing in Abia State.

At the CCECC section of the project, the minister directed that the section between the railway crossing and the Alaoji be modified as follows: four carriageways (just like the Arab section) instead of two; a roundabout to be constructed at the intersection between Port-Harcourt Rd in Aba and Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.