The Minister of Works, Senator David Nweze Umahi, has commended the synergy between the governments of the states of South East and the Federal Government.
He said that such collaboration has resulted in the wave of infrastructure development witnessed in parts of South East under President Bola Tinubu.
Speakung during his inspection visit to the ongoing reconstruction of the collapsed bridge at New Artisan Market, near NNPC Mega Filling Station, Enugu State, Umahi, who was in the company of Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State, commended the governors of South East for their support for President Tinubu.
He said that the governors’ efforts in the development of road infrastructure would enhance economic advancement of the region.
Umahi said: “ I want to commend you for the numerous jobs you are doing in Enugu State. The economy of your state is going to boom by the strategic and noiseless infrastructure that you are putting in place. By the time you complete this infrastructure, it’s going to be a lot of noise.
“I commend you very highly and the other governors of South East, including my own governor in Ebonyi, the Chairman of South East Governors’ Forum and Governor of Imo State, the governor of Abia State and the governor of Anambra State.”
The projects Umahi visited include the 23-span twin flyover bridge at Eke-Obinagu Junction, Emene handled by Reinforced Global Ltd, the collapsed bridge along Enugu-PH Expressway at New Artisan Market,near NNPC Mega filling station handled by CCECC Ltd, and the dualization of 107 km section of Enugu- Onitsha Expressway handled by RCC Ltd.
He thanked Governor Mbah for the initiative to handle the dualization of 24km of Enugu axis of the Enugu – Abakaliki-Ogoja Trans-Sahara Highway and noted that the intervention had closed the gap in the road infrastructure intervention efforts of Federal Government in the state.
The minister expressed the readiness of the Federal Government to collaborate with Enugu State Government in the construction of a flyover bridge at Abakpa junction in Enugu Capital City to minimize traffic challenges and enhance the business fortunes of the state. .
He directed immediate soil tests and design of the bridge for consideration by the Federal Ministry of Works. It is expected that Enugu State government will fund the execution of the project and afterwards get a refund from Federal Government through the MTN Tax Credit Scheme
Umahi commended the contractors handling projects he visited for the quality of job being done but directed RCC Ltd to remobilise immediately to the site and free the roads to reduce the hardship suffered by the road users because of the uncompleted section of the road.
He commended the efforts of President of Tinubu in fixing road infrastructure in South East, saying: “The President has given very serious and adequate attention to the road infrastructure in South East.”
Umahi urged the people to keep faith with the federal government’s programmes for economic recovery as stated in his national broadcast.
“Only a businessman background will understand the importance of that address. The address is laden with a lot of hope, laden with a lot of economic activities and a lot of relief packages for our people.”
In his response, Governor Mbah noted the synergy between Enugu State government and the Federal Government as a governance imperative for the development and progress of the state.
“Let me start first with expressing, on behalf of the government and the people of Enugu State, our profound gratitude and our deep appreciation to the President and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of this country, and also to the Minister who has shown tireless commitment since we had this incident last year.
“The minister must have visited here over 10 times. From the onset, he has expeditiously came to the site and assessed what was happening immediately we called on Mr. President to assist because this is indeed a major gateway. And we all know the value of having a seamless transportation system.”
The road is one of those seamless transportation systems.”
He called on the people of South East to remain undaunted in their resolve not to protest against President Tinubu’s economic recovery policies.