The Rescue Mission government of Governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha has again justified the confidence reposed in the administration by ordering road contractors back to site for the completion of the on-going road projects. The bee-hive activities now straddle the state except at few locations. The battered flood-ridden Umuelele Phase II Layout Road by ICC Block Industry in Irete autonomous community, Owerri West LGA begun by the Rescue Mission contractor in 2012 is still abandoned and bleeding from non execution of the contract. The road has since become a long stretch of dirty stagnant ponds dreaded by both vehicular and foot traffic. The resultant excruciating ordeal now ravaging the residents attained nightmarish proportions after the road was graded by the government contractor destroying buildings and landed properties. Big ruts developed into pot holes which prefaced the devastation of the big floods of 2012 and 2013. Prior to the advent of the flooding which came along with climate change, the residents maintained the road to render it passable and motorable. That was before divine providence brought in the Rescue Mission administration which accorded road development number one priority in its people oriented programmes. The residents heaved a sigh of relief believing that the intractability of the road would soon be addressed and laid to rest. The prospect later metamorphosed into another mirage. The unpleasant outcome is that whenever there was a heavy downpour, the road serves as one of the major discharge points for flood water coming from the expressway en-route to the nearby burrow pit. As at now, the road may conservatively require about N15 million to reconstruct, create drainages and check flooding in the area. It is in the light of this development that the N10,000 Road Levy imposed by the Neighbourhood Association smacks of multiple agenda as it pales insignificantly into one of the absurdities of the decade. This is why the ill-conceived road construction could only manage to scratch the surface leaving the real obstacle fuming with recriminations. Unless the objective of the Association is distantly related to the Rescue Mission agenda which on the face of it is anti Owelle Rochas and Imo Must Be Better insistence. In other words, the scope of the construction is far beyond community initiative and execution. The reason being that the level of the road must be higher that that of the Owerri/Onitsha expressway to enable its flood waters discharge into the big gutters en route to the burrow pit, at the other side of the road. For now, the elusive solution is no longer the tipping of stones and red earth as before or even the digging of holes by the sides of the road in place of solid drainage channels. This short-sighted non engineering approach characterized past efforts to demystify the imbroglio. Henceforth, all eyes are on the Rescue Mission administration to play the big father role which is only what can prevent the area from being submerged this rainy season. Imo Must Be Better!
