Obinna Odogwu, Abakaliki
The Ebonyi State Government has commenced construction work on a 150-metre road leading to the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Gate of Heaven Parish, at the Nkaliki area of Abakaliki, the state capital.
The road, which is impassable as it is usually very slippery whenever it rains, Sunday Sun gathered, has caused the people of the area untold hardship. It however got the governor’s attention when he attended a wedding in the church about two weeks ago.
Flagging off the road project officially, the state Governor, Chief David Umahi, represented by his Senior Special Assistant on Infrastructural Maintenance, Chief Ali Odefa, said that the road would cost about N14.4million, including drainages and streetlights.
The project, Odefa said, is expected to be completed in the next three weeks as work has already commenced.
He further disclosed that the state government has commenced patching up potholes on all internal roads across the state capital.
“The cost of the project is N14.4 million and it is 6-metre by 6 inches concrete road. The road was very bad and the way they built houses around the area made it very prone to flooding,” Odefa said.
“In the rainy season, it is not passable but we have filled all those places and we are introducing culverts in some portions of the road so that there will be easy flow of water in the drainages.
“Government is embarking on the zero pothole programme and this zero pothole is not just something that will just happen overnight. We are taking them one after the other. We have divided Abakaliki into 14 DISCO (electricity Distribution Companies) [zones] and each DISCO has its own streets.
“Most of the internal roads done by the previous administration in the state have failed. So, we have started to attend to them one after the other; places where we have done concrete roads are safe. The places where there are asphalt roads in the past, even when you recoat them, the failures start underground.
“So, how this zero pothole programme was designed is that wherever we notice a pothole, we mark that pothole and dig and scavenge that place to a depth of 8 inches, we put BRC MM 5 inches thickness and them we pour grade 40 concrete and then that portion can never fail anymore.
“So, when we finish putting all these concrete amendments in place, we can now overlay them again with asphalt and then they will stand the test of time”, he explained.
Local RCCG pastor Amari Omaka, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said that the road was in a very pitiable state and that church members have found it very difficult to access the church whenever it rains; but with the new construction project, he commended Governor Umahi for coming to their aid.