The Akwakuma / Amakohia end of the Abandoned Owerri bye – pass has turned into a death trap for motorist and pedestrians alike. The damage done on the road by flood, due to the abandonment of the project by the present government is an economic waste. When Imo Trumpeta visited the road, yesterday, it was in a sorry state, as the dual carriage road has been cut into two, horizontally, automobiles and pedestrians now meander through a very narrow space by the road side to access their destinations in “turn by turn” basis. And road users and concerned citizens/ Imolites mouth have started wagging bitterly for the abandonment of such an economic viably project that has gulped tax payers money over personal grudges. The traffic bottleneck at the Orlu road junction of the bye – pass is nothing to write home about, as motorists speed hours at the spot most often.
“It is no longer only the so called oppositions or detractors that are seeing and feeling the damage done to the Akwakuma/ Amakohia new road (Owerri bye – pass) by politics of blackmail in Imo State, My brother you can see for yourself that this road is now a mere death trap” lamented Dr Johnson Duruji a resident of Akwakuma.
The new road which was meant to connect Onitsha road, Okigwe road, Mbieri communities and decongest traffic in the Owerri main town own was initiated by the immediate past government of Imo and reached more than 60% completion but was abandoned by the present government led by Rochas Okorocha alleging many things like inflation a contract, using substandard material to mention a few. The people are no longer comfortable with such allegation. If after more than a year in office nobody was probed in connection with the allegations, considering the economic and political importance of the road to the state and the state fund spent. So far on the project, who is fooling who” said Mr Chudi Eke.
Reports have it that some days back a trailer lorry fall into the ditch and disrupt the managed narrow space used by motorists on the “death trap” road for a whole day, subjecting motorist to undue hardship and stress.
Mr Eronini James, is of the view that the state government should stop playing politics with public facilities like road, he maintained that as long as development and expansion of Owerri capital city is concerned that ring road is a catalyst to it, and one of the best things to have happened to Imo people, he also advised that anybody who tries to kill it is an enemy to not only Imo people but the entire South East. “Government is continuity, it is on record that some of the governors that are doing well today did not in any way abandon or castigate the projects of their predecessors, go to Enugu, Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Rivers etc and see what is happening. Anybody who is coming for equity/justice should come with clean hands” Mr Eronini cautioned.
However, the residents of Akwakuma / Amakohia are pleading with Gov Okorocha to please as a matter of urgency commence work on the abandoned road before lives will begin to waste on the road turned death trap and also minimize the traffic bottle neck that has become the lot of the New road junction.
