Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja

The Federal Government has released the list of 69 ongoing road and bridge projects in the South East part of the country.

The development is sequel to a promise made by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in response to criticism by the South East Governors’ Forum over Federal Government projects in the region.

Recall that the South East Governors’ Forum had lambasted the Federal Government over alleged poor and sectional implementation of capital projects in the 2017 Appropriation Act.

The governors said that the unfortunate aspect of the 2017 federal capital budget implementation thrust was the inequitable nature of the focal sectors, while also saying that the budget implementation was based on mere sentiments.

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But, in a statement, in Abuja, on Monday, by his Special Assistant, Segun Adeyemi, Mohammed said though the contracts for many of the roads were awarded before the advent of the Buhari dministration, they were either poorly funded or not funded at all, hence work on the roads had lingered.

“The Minister said the 69 roads and bridges, which are spread across the five states in the South East, are now in different stages of completion, thanks to the funding sourced by the present administration from budgetary allocations, the Sukuk Bond and the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund.

“He said the government is also looking into the possibility of using a part of the recovered looted funds to fund the development of infrastructure across the country,” the statement read.

In Abia State, Mohammed listed the Construction of Nkporo-Abiriba-Ohafia Road; the Rehabilitation of Umuahia-Bende-Ohafia Road; the Rehabilitation of Bende-Arochukwu-Ohafia Road Section II; Emergency Repairs of Failed Section in Umuahia-Ariam-Ikot Ekpene Road; Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Enugu-Port Harcourt Dual Carriageway Section I: Lokpanta-Umuahia Tower; Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Enugu-Port Harcourt Dual Carriageway Section II: Umuahia Tower-Aba Township Rail/Road Bridge Crossing, amongst others.

In Anambra, the Limited Rehabilitation of Umana-Ndiagu-Ebene-Amansi Awka Express Road; the Rehabilitation of Onitsha bound Carriageway of the Onitsha-Enugu Road (Phase II, Section I); the Construction of the Main works including Associated Infrastructure for the Second Niger Bridge linking  Anambra and Delta States; Emergency Repairs of Existing Niger Bridge, formed the Federal Government’s list of projects in the South East.

In Ebonyi, some of the projects listed by Mohammed were the Rehabilitation of Abakaliki-Afikpo Road Section I: Abakalilki-Onueke-Abomega Road; Emergency Repairs of Abakaliki-Oferekpe; and Rehabilitation of Abakaliki-Afikpo Road Section II: Abomega-Afikpo Road.

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In Enugu, project listed include the rehabilitation of Enugu bound Carriageway of the Onitsha-Enugu Road, Phase I of Section I); Rehabilitation of Old Enugu – Portharcourt Road (Agbogugu-Abia Border Spur to Mmaku) and the Rehabilitation of Inyi-Akpugoeze to Anambra Border.

In Imo State, the Rehabilitation of Owerri-Umuahia Road; the Rehabilitation of Owerri-Umuahia Road Section I, II & III and the Rehabilitation of Oba-Nnewi-Okigwe Road Route 429 Section II made the list released by Mohammed.