Sen. Dave Umahi, Minister of Works, stated that the Federal Government would immediately commence rehabilitation of the collapsed Enugu/Port Harcourt road.
Mr Umahi made the remarks while visiting the site of the collapsed bridge with Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah as part of his business tour to the state.
He stated that the repair of the bridge will alleviate the burden of commuters on the route, and that the bridge’s collapse was sad, and that the government would provide other roads for the people in the meanwhile.
According to him, “We are going to look at the second bridge and see how far the remedial work will be done on it. We are going to scale up the reconstruction of the two bridges alongside with the road construction.
“I want to assure you that I have directed the contractor to do everything possible to provide an alternative road.
“We are going to work on the second bridge to ascertain the integrity of the bridge and see if we can use it while we demolish the collapsed one and start the reconstruction.
“I believe the contractor is hearing us and the process will start immediately. I want to have a memo which I will send to Mr President.”
The minister added that the report and pictures of the collapsed bridge sent to him were the same with what he was seeing.
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He explained that the collapse occurred because the pipes were exposed, adding that the bridge was constructed in 1968.
He pledged his support to the Enugu government and commended him for his initiative in dualizing the Enugu-Abakaliki town road.
“We received your letter on that, and I will send my men to evaluate it.” I can tell you that you will hear from us within the next 7 days; we are working on the drains and will provide you with our standard and bills of quantities.
“It is difficult for me to assure any governor who wants a refund, because we came into office and inherited an economy that spends more than 90% of its income servicing debts.”
Mr Mbah thanked Umahi and the FG for the prompt response to the bridge collapse, saying that it underscored the president’s commitment when he took the oath of office.
“He is committed to lead with compassion and run an inclusive government, and that is what we are seeing here today.”
He explained that when the incident happened, he reached out to the FG immediately and within 48 hours the minister was in the state for inspection to find solution on how they can get at least one section of the road done to accommodate the people.
“This is a major gateway road so we cried out to the FG for expeditious action,” Mr Mbah said.
NAN
