The Commissioner for Works , Abia, Chief Bob Ogu says the state is developing a legal framework to check refuse dumping in drainage channels.
According to him, the state will also embark on mass education to sensitise citizens on the hazards of indiscriminate dumping of refuse.
Ogu made the disclosure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Aba on the sideline of the inauguration of Eziukwu Road, Milverton Road and Ojike Lane on Friday.
He said that the frequent damages on the roads in the city, which to an extent was partly traceable to blockages of drains as a result of indiscriminate waste dumping by residents, must be stopped to ensure that the roads last.
Ogu said that the roads that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia inaugurated on Friday were important to Aba because they are connected to the “business heart’’ of the city.
According to him, it is for this importance that they are reconstructed using the cement-pavement technology to ensure durability.
“There is an underground tunnel on the road that we are going to desilt and we also had to increase the size of the drains to accommodate more runoff water.
“We also had to increase the gradient so that we have a natural slope for the water to flow.
“Once we finish disilting these drains, they are large enough and are properly slanted to carry away the runoff water from the roads here.
“But we have a challenge in this town and that challenge is that the residents have not come to terms with the fact that `you don’t drop your refuse inside the drains’.
“If you drop your refuse inside the drains, it will block the drainage channel and runoff water will return to the road and destroy the asphalt road as asphalt and water are not the best of friends.’’
He said: “So we are going to embark on mass education and also develop a legal framework where we can arrest and punish those who are guilty of these kinds of activities.
“If you walk along Milverton now, you will see the holes that take water off the road surface; I have seen two of them that people used blocks to cover.
“We cannot allow that kind of thing to continue. After detecting such things, we have to ensure citizens do what they have to do”, he said.
Also, the Abia Commissioner for Information, Chief Okeiyi Kalu, said that the roads that were inaugurated were badly damaged such that corporate tenants with offices on the roads had to leave for lack of access to offices.
He said that the governor had completed nine roads since December 2020 and would inaugurate more in the coming weeks.
According to Kalu, the governor has directed the Traffic and Indiscipline Management Agency of Abia State (TIMAAS) to bring sanity to the area by moving the Milverton luxury bus park to Osisioma Ngwa or re-organising it.
He said that the government would ensure that the landscape and people’s behaviour to infrastructure were changed for the good of Abia.
