Onitsha-Enugu Highway Rehabilitation Ready Soon, -Minister

Rehabilitation of the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway is to be completed within two weeks to enhance other development projects in the area, the Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolememen, has said.

The minister told newmsen in Onitsha that the rehabilitation was imperative to respond to the residents’ complaints about the situation of the road. He said he was visiting the road project to ensure that the contractors complied with his directive that the project should be ready within two weeks.

Onolememen said that when the project was completed, it would ease the construction of the second Niger Bridge in Onitsha which he said, would open more business opportunities in the area. Our correspondent recalls that rehabilitation of South-East and the East-West roads were awarded to Consolidated Construction Company Ltd. and Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2009 at N11 billion.

Some residents who spoke to reporters  however, expressed mixed feelings on the projects which they said had been unnecessarily delayed.

A driver, Emeka Maduabuchi,  said the bad condition of the road had subjected motorists to hardships, resulting in incessant damage to vehicles.

“It is difficult to ascertain the number of people who have died on this road, not only by accidents but by robbers who waylaid them on the bad portions to rob,’’ he said.

A hawker, who gave her name as Nkechi, said that although she sold well in the traffic jam on the road daily, she had compassion for the road users who always complained of the hardship encountered on the road.