By Samuel Ogenyi, Uyo
Following the detoriating state of the alternate road linking Uyo to Abak and Port Harcourt, the village Head of Nnung Udoe, in Uyo Local Council of Akwa Ibom, Chief Augustine Udoh has threatened to mobilize the community to block access in and out of the area if no urgent maintenance is effected.
Udoh told Correspondents yesterday in Uyo that the community has suffered untold hardship and has witnessed frequent cases of accident since the community’s roads were opened to the public as alternative, occasioned by the ongoing flyover at Ekom Iman just in Uyo.
Awarded by the state government to Julius Berger in 2019, the Ekom Iman Junction flyover, as considered a major facility that would ease traffic at the threshold of the capital city and consolidate the ongoing dualization project of the Uyo-Etinan Road.
The commencement of the project meant the divertion of traffic from within and outside the state through the Ediene villages with heavy duty trucks conveying granites from Cross River State to Akwa Ibom and down to Rivers State forced to ply the small community road, constructed by the immediate past administration.
Reacting to the current dilapidated state of the community road, the village head said in addition to the number of accidents witnessed daily, the road, has been badly destroyed and the community almost submerged with the flyover work and another road project also diverting heavy volume of flood waters into the community.
Udoh maintained that it was the responsibility of a construction company handling any project that calls for diversion to maintain such alternative roads till the main project was completed.
“From Pepsi junction, all the heavy duty trailers that carry stones from Cross Rivers State to Abak, Ikot Abasi and even Port Harcourt are diverted into our community. That is why we now have frequent cases of accidents. As we speak, smaller vehicles can no longer pass through there, because the heavy trucks have badly damaged the roads.
“We have written several letters to Julius Berger, the construction company handling the flyover to come and take care of the deplorable state of the road. Our situation is peculiar because we have flood coming in from the dualized Idoro road, flood diverted from ongoing road construction at Ikot Akpan Ediene and from this heavy traffic diverted into our community. We are almost submerged!
“I will mobilize my community to block our roads if Julius Berger fails to take steps to maintain them. We are not against development, but we cannot continue to fold our arms and watch our communities submerged in muds. Julius Berger would not do this elsewhere. Akwa Ibom State government should not continue to ignore our community”. He said
The Monarch also reminded the state government that the new housing estate “Martha Udom’s Vineyard” was right in the middle of the flooded area, and warned that no meaningful development would be possible if proper drainage is not connected to take flouod out of the community..
He regretted that the construction company had further provoked hostility from the community through the sack of the only two members of the community engaged on the construction of the flyover. “How do they think we feel to watch outsiders come in to work in our community while the only two youths engaged from here were the only ones affected by Covid-19 redundancy?” He queried..
