By Samson Ezea
In commemoration of his one year in office, Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah of Enugu State commissioned some completed roads among the 71 roads he flagged off for construction and reconstruction towards the end of last year.
Truly, not all the completed roads were advertised as commissioned by him as commissioning or engaging in publicity stunts over awarded and completed infrastructural projects in the state is not part of his leadership and governance style since assuming office.
But notwithstanding, that does not mean that works have stopped on new ones and yet to be completed roads. Actually, many of the roads he awarded have been completed and put to use without being commissioned by him as expected.
This is because it seems Gov. Mbah doesn’t attach much importance to such fanfare as a matter of choice. Meanwhile, I could vividly recall that Governor Mbah said that his administration is targeting construction and reconstruction of around 10,000 kilometres roads in the next eight years. The 71 roads Governor Mbah flagged off last year, which include 40 kilometres Owo-Ubahu-Amakanu- Neke-ikem dual carriageway, Ama Brewery- Ezeagu- Uzo-Uwani road, Premier Layout road, GRA- Damija Trans Ekulu road, Maryland- Timber.Shade- Achara Layout and others are estimated at 400 kilometres.
While works have been completed on many of them that include Trans Ekulu- Damija road, College road, Premier Layout road, Golf Estate road, Silver street Camp road, New Haven market-Phone village road and others, works are still ongoing aggressively and massively on others. Even some roads that were not among the 71 awarded roads are being rehabilitated, especially within the metropolis and suburbs.
I was baffled recently reading some armchair critics and social media traducers, questioning and criticising the quality and number of kilometres of the roads being constructed and rehabilitated by Mbah’s administration without expertise and facts or considering their importance and exigencies.
I am not an engineer, but one common feature of the roads constructed and being constructed by Governor Mbah’s administration is the presence of drainages and erosion channels at both sides of the roads, that will surely enhance the durability of the roads.
No doubt, the construction and reconstruction of these awarded roads, especially the link roads in the suburbs, are aiding ease of movement, transportation, and bringing great relief to residents and practically eliminating traffic snarls in the metropolis and its environs.
I personally experienced it at New Haven last bus stop recently on my way to the airport to drop a friend who was rushing to catch his flight to Lagos in the evening.
On getting to the fourth dimension bus stop New Haven, we encountered a light traffic snarl.
But because I didn’t notice the traffic snarl in time to make a detour at fourth dimension bus stop by my left to drive through the street that link Dannic Hotel and the New Watzy Hotel to avoid the last bus stop traffic snarl, I ran into it.
The traffic snarl was moving gradually. Immediately after the New Haven last bus stop roundabout, I saw a newly reconstructed road by Governor Mbah’s administration by the right, I quickly made a detour on the road and found myself almost at the Enugu- Abakaliki major expressway.
With this, we were able to get to the airport in time, because with newly reconstructed link road the journey became shorter and the movement became faster. I also realized that there is another reconstructed link road in that axis that passed in front of a Catholic Church and linked up to the major expressway, too.
The two link roads just like many other reconstructed major and link roads by Mbah’s administration may not be of thousands of kilometres, but their values and roles in addressing and easing the before-now perennial traffic snarls at the New Haven last bus stop and across Enugu metropolis and suburbs are unprecedented and commendable.
Sincerely, before the reconstruction of the two link roads by the right side of the road after the New Haven last bus stop, I never knew that such link roads existed in that axis and other parts of the state until Gov. Mbah started opening them up through massive reconstruction.
Those who have been and are still mischievously and narcissistically taunting and asking of the whereabout of Governor Mbah’s promised 10,000 kilometres roads in the name of opposition politics, just after his one year in office, without acknowledging and commending the completed and ongoing road constructions and reconstructions across the state are not constructive, practical, fair to Governor Mbah’s administration and sincere to themselves.
It is of note and on record that Governor Mbah never promised of constructing 10,000 kilometres roads in one year as being falsely and intentionally peddled on social media platforms by opposition’s hired social media hirelings and traducers that specialize in the distortion of facts and purveying of falsehoods to drive home their predetermined agenda and motive.
