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Prominent stakeholders in Abia State has appealed to the state governor, Dr Alex Otti to expand the roads built in Aba by Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, while he reigned as Abia governor between 1999 and 2007 to uplift the city.
A notable community leader in Obingwa, Chief Samuel Okorie, while speaking to newsmen on Tuesday decried that the neglect of the ring roads in Aba, which kalu built between 1999 and 2007, contributed to the poor outlook of Aba.
He lamented that after Kalu left office as governor, his successors neither invested in new roads nor maintained the ones they met on ground.
“That’s why we will no longer keep mute and watch other roads go bad. We are calling on the governor to consider revisiting all those roads that were built but abandoned. All the link roads like Obu Ohia, Ohanku, and Asa triangle, which were built by Orji Kalu, should be considered for expansion. Government is a continuity, and for us to enjoy Aba again, there should be rehabilitation and expansion,” he said.
Read Also: No Sacrifice Is Too Big To Improve Lives Of Abians — Otti
On his part, the President of Abia Renaissance Forum, Dr Ogwo Sylvester Ogwo, has also appealed to Gov Otti to expand more roads in Aba for easy access. He said the government needs to find ways to expand and rehabilitate access roads
According to Ogwo, “It is pertinent to acknowledge that the government has embarked on strategies to improve transport and businesses in Aba
“This is particularly in the area of access roads, which are key to whatever we will do in Aba. Equally, what is important is for some existing roads to be expanded. Some of these roads were built over 20 years ago when Orji Uzor Kalu was Governor.
“You will agree with me that the vehicular traffic situations and bad roads we have around Aba have been a major challenge for business growth.
“The concern is do we have room for further expansion of roads in Aba? The road is getting choked up and saturated. We need to find other ways to have a smooth flow of traffic in and out of Aba,” he said.
In the same vein, a former Transition Committee Chairman of Isiala-Ngwa North Local Government Area, Chuks Okoroafor, called on the governor to bury the idea of building new hospitals.
He advised the governor to rehabilitate and expand 17 hospitals built by former Governor Orji Kalu across the 17 local governments, instead of building new hospitals at a very expensive cost.
