Anambra State House of Assembly has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to direct road contractors refurbishing the state’s section of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway to return to site to complete the project.
The House added that the contractor; Reynolds Construction Company (RCC) should complete the good work it had started on the road in order to alleviate the sufferings of road users.
The resolution followed a motion sponsored by Mr Nnamdi Okafor representing Awka South constituency and unanimously adopted by the entire House during plenary on Aug. 13.
The Speaker, Mr Uchenna Okafor, who presided over the plenary session, had put up the motion while the lawmakers adopted it through voice votes.
Mr Okafor notes: “It has not been easy with all of us that are road users in the state; and even those people that transit through Anambra State and we know that the President has done so well by awarding this contract.
“We are meant to believe that the contractor probably left that site because of COVID-19 outbreak. But now that virtually all economic activities have been returning to the country, it is good for them to return to site and complete their work.
“We thank Gov. Willie Obiano for providing an enabling environment with which the contractor has been working,” he said.
Speaking on the motion, Mr Nnamdi Okafor, Majority Leader of the House expressed worries that the contractor, RCC, had yet to return to site about five months into stoppage of work.
He added that the expressway reconstruction might be abandoned again as was done in the past.
Okafor was optimistic that immediate resumption of work and completion of the Enugu-Onitsha expressway would boost economic activities and improve timely delivery of goods.
He added that it would minimise vehicular damages, increase revenues to states served by the highway and eliminate agonies facing the road users.
According to him, RCC started work immediately on the worst dilapidated Umunya/Awkuzu axis of the expressway and completed it in record time and thereafter proceeded to the Amawbia/Awkuzu section.
“They were doing well at very good pace until the lockdown and state boundary closures in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“But the lockdowns and interstate border closures have been lifted by the Federal Government several weeks now. and companies and other businesses have since resumed.
“I can recall that the contract to reconstruct the Anambra State section of the Enugu-Onitsha expressway was awarded to RCC in November 2018, with a completion period of 42 months.
“The said expressway is an important Trunk-A highway, known for its heavy vehicular traffic, was abandoned and became dilapidated for several years, and left the users of the deplorable road in grief.
“The Enugu-Onitsha expressway is a major thoroughfare that connects the Southwest through River Niger to the Southeast, South-South, and Northern Nigeria via Benue and Kogi states,” the legislator stressed.
