Abia refutes accusations on social media about washed-off roads.
The Abia State Government has denied the veracity of a video that has been making the rounds on social media lately, which purports to show that rains swept off one of the newly built highways under Governor Alex Otti‘s administration.
This was said on Tuesday by Engineer Don Otumchere Oti, the Abia State Commissioner for Works, during an inspection of the ongoing rehabilitation of Pepples Road and other Aba roads.
Oti, who took reporters to some of the project sites in Aba, stated that rains did not wash away any portion of the Pepples Road, which is currently under construction.
The Commissioner clarified that only the area of the road construction where an exposed, loose stone base was installed was impacted by stormwater runoff.
“As you can see, the road was not washed off,” he stated. The portion that is exposed to rainwater is the unprotected region. You can still see the road standing firmly even at that point.
After inspecting everything, we have identified some areas that need improvement in order to strengthen the road’s protection.
We recently had stone base on the road; as you may imagine, this is loose stuff. What do you think would happen if there was a flood on this loose material? The stuff would be carried by the flood. Thus, work on the road is still ongoing.
“The flood is coming from the right side of the road, as can be seen by looking at it, and I just noticed how big the catchment area of the drain that services this area is.” Thus, we will deal with the problem and ensure that anything similar never occurs again.
“I’m here to personally check it and determine what steps need to be taken to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. We’ve noticed it and will take the appropriate corrective action to make sure that this sort of issue doesn’t arise again. Naturally, though, if the road had been finished, the issue would not have come up.
This content is only vague. It isn’t safeguarded. This type of stuff will not be possible by the time the road is finished and every area is secured.
Oti promised that the state government will take action to guarantee that the road was completed correctly after he linked the flooding issue to the access road’s huge catchment area.
“This road has a very large catchment area,” he continued. A lot of trash is being brought to this location by the water that is flowing from the right. Look to the right to see all the flood is carrying with it from all around the place.
Thus, it is something else that we must observe.
He said that it was regrettable that some people were claiming that the road had been swept away and that they had no idea how bad the locals’ situation had been before Governor Otti ordered that the road be rebuilt.
