The government of Abia State, led by Governor Alex Otti, has ordered the demolition of no fewer than one hundred and fifty buildings to allow for the reconstruction of the Ossag Road in Umuahia, the state capital.
Details of the project were given on Monday, August 14, by the Commissioner for Information and Culture, Okey Kanu.
According to him, the Abia state government will soon commence the payment of compensation to the owners of structures marked for demolition before the reconstruction work begins.
While noting that the government is determined to expand the Umuahia road by one more lane on either side, Kanu said it has been holding consultations with property owners on both sides of the major road to Umuahia, off the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.
Gists9ja reports that Kanu disclosed this at a news briefing on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting at the Government House, Umuahia.
He said that the decision to expand the road from four to six lanes was to ease traffic and enhance the aesthetics of the state capital Umuahia.
Again, he said that there was no going back on the project, adding that the demolition, which ought to begin on Monday, was shifted by three weeks.
The commissioner said that consultations between the government and the communities affected by the project were still ongoing and had yielded good results.
Kanu noted that the notice on how much compensation to pay to the owners of the marked structures would be made public soon.
On his part, the Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Chaka Chukwumerije, said that the structures marked for demolition on the Ossah Road had been enumerated and evaluated.
Chukwumerije said that the compensations would be paid in tranches. He said that the essence of postponing the demolition date was to give the affected persons enough time to relocate, pointing out that the government was “not in a hurry to demolish but to develop”.
