By Jennifer John
Imo State Commissioner for Works, Ralph Nwosu has disclosed that there a total of 49 ongoing road construction projects in the state. He said the administration inherited 28 of the projects, while it awarded the rest on its own.
The commissioner made this disclosure during a briefing of newsmen in his office, over the 100 days in office of the present administration. He used the opportunity to highlight some achievements of the ministry.
He recalled that Governor Uzodimma allowed the contractors already handling road projects in the state to continue, but some of them did not show passion to work for the state reason their contracts were terminated.
He said the present government prefers to work with development partners rather than contractors, explaining that while contractors are only interested in making money, development partners have the interest of the government and people of the state at heart and are willing to make sacrifices to help the state move forward.
Talking about those whose contracts were revoked, he said, “They are not our development partners. They are just contractors looking for money and that is why we said we are not ready to work with them
“If you are our development partner, you should be ready to work for us and we pay you at the end of the day. We can only owe. Everybody owes. Even America owe, the Nigerian government also owes. So if Imo State Government owes you a little money, which you know we will pay, it shouldn’t be a big deal”.
He used the opportunity to list some of the roads were the ministry had intervened to cushion the negative effect of their bad conditions on Imolites, especially during the yuletide season.
Douglas to Naze junction, Links Hotel, Pious Nworga Road, Hospital junction, Umuguma to High Court Road, Bank Road/Assumpta Avenue, Emmanuel College to Pastoral Centre, Imo Police Headquarters Road, Nekede Old Road bridge, Amakohia Flyover Road, Bishops Court Roundabout, Ebere Links end of new government house road Amakohia-Onitsha (DSS Road), Works Road by Bala Suya, Cherubim junction to Owerri Club Road, Ahiajoku Centre- Portharcourt Road, Umezuruike-Warehouse Road, among others
He said the ministry graded some roads which included;
Road Safety-Toronto-Orji, Ihitte Ogada-Awaka-Emekuku-Ekemmegbuoha, Old Road Nekede-Area H junction, Nwachukwu Orizu extension, Umuguma, Portharcourt Road-Holy Rosary International College, Uchenna Bus-stop ring road in Irette, Umuguma last roundabout Road, Industrial Layout (Celestine Izunobi Crescent) Nwachukwu Orizu by World Bank Road, Holy Trinity World Bank Road, Ejimkeonye street, World Bank Road among others.
He expressed regret that the state is still talking road construction in the capital city, saying if the right things were done by the immediate past administrations, the present government would have been focusing attention on the rural roads that equally require urgent attention.
