Emmanuel Ugwu in Umuahia
Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has flagged off the reconstruction of 4.7km Faulks Road with a contract sum of N6.8 billion, saying that a permanent solution has been found tor the strategic but problematic road which has defied efforts by previous governments due to the flood menace.
To get it right this time around the reconstruction work awarded to Setraco Group would also involve construction of 5.6km underground water channel that will collect water from Ifeobara basin near Ukwu-mango to Aba River.
Faulks road is regarded as one of the strategic roads in the commercial city of Aba as it constitutes a major link road to Ariaria International Market. This important road begins from Brass Junction by Aba-Owerri Road through Ukwu-mango to Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway.
“I know that previous administrations in the state made several attempts to reconstruct this road, but they failed because proper attention was never given to the Ifeobara (water) basin. But this time, we have given the work to a competent company like Setraco, a company we know will do the job,” Ikpeazu said at the flag off ceremony.
He assured that he would be coming personally to the construction site every week to ensure that the contractor kept to the terms of doing quality job “because this road is important to us”.
The governor, who has been giving special attention to Aba, pointed out that by complimenting the road reconstruction with 5.6km underground water channel “a permanent solution” would be found to the problem of Ukwa-mango and the flood water along Faulks road.
According to him, the state would not be investing a huge sum of N6.8 billion on the road and underground water channel if it was not sure of getting quality and permanent result to the intractable problem of Faulks road.
“We can’t spend this amount of money and return here again, that is why we gave the job to a competent company like Setraco,” Governor Ikpeazu said, adding that no structure would be allowed to stand on the way to finding permanent solution to Faulks road.
He warned: “Those of you who build houses and shops on the water ways, I want to announce to you that we have asked Setraco to bring down an obstacle on their way to ensure the job is done properly. Let us also tell our traditional rulers and youths that we will not tolerate anybody that will disrupt or disturb what we have come to here”.
State commissioner for works, Hon Eziuche Ubani said that it the reconstruction of Faulks road was delayed because it took a year for the government to get the right design that would end the perennial problem of Faulks road. He said it was now eureka with the design that incorporates underground water channel.
