From Okey Sampson and Kenneth Udeh, Umuahia
Senate Chief Whip, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has appealed to the Federal Government to hasten a speedy completion of the six power plants in Abia North. Senator Kalu made the appeal while conducting the Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman round the six power plants in the zone.
The power plants are: the 132KV transmission lines at Ohafia, Arochukwu and Mbalano, and the 132/33KV substations also located in the areas. Kalu who said he attracted the power plants when he was governor of the state, regretted that the projects were abandoned immediately after he left office.
“I attracted these power plants when I was the governor of the state, but it’s unfortunate that they were abandoned by subsequent governments,” he said. He noted that it was because of the importance of the projects to the economic development of the area that made him to draw the attention of the Federal Government to them.
The former governor told the Minister that billions of naira had been spent on the projects and it would be counter productive to allow them to waste. While commending President Muhammadu Buhari for the zeal with which his administration is reconstructing roads in his constituency, he expressed optimism that his government would in the same manner tackle the power plants problem.