Umahi decries dilapidated federal roads in Anambra, other South-East states

The Minister of Works, Chief David Umahi, has decried the poor state of federal roads in the South-East geo-political zone, especially in Anambra and Ebonyi states.

Umahi made his feelings known during a courtesy call on the Anambra Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, on Saturday night in Awka.

The Minister said Anambra and Ebonyi were competing for the worst in terms of poor federal road projects in the country.

He said that he had recently visited Imo, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi states before coming to Anambra, saying that the situation is the same on the state of federal roads.

Umahi, who before meeting Soludo had inspected Enugu-bound lane of the Onitsha/Enugu expressway, passed a vote of no confidence on the consultants supervising the reconstruction of the road.

He regretted that the handlers of the very busy road were exposing road users to untold hardship.

“I am a bit disappointed with the state of Enugu/Onitsha expressway; I have called both the contractors and consultants to a meeting this evening with the Governor.

“I have equally passed a vote of no confidence on the consultants,” he said.

He directed the firm to immediately rehabilitate the bad spots, which have caused vehicles to fall and other sundry hiccups on the Enugu-Onitsha expressway.

The Minister said he was personally concerned due to a series of calls and complaints coming from the same road.

“While MTN Nigeria says they have 100 per cent funding, the chairman of RCC construction firm, will say the opposite, complaining of funding problem.

“We will all meet and sort out these problems because we cannot have one or two contractors doing 200 kilometers of road for seven years,” he said.