Motorists are thrilled about the partial opening of the previously challenging Ugwuonyeama section at the 9th Mile end of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway after years of harrowing experiences.
The road was re-opened on Thursday by the contractors to allow free flow of movement by travellers returning home for Christmas and New Year celebrations.
The motorists’ enthusiasm stems from the unpleasant encounters on the deteriorated road lane during the reconstruction initiated by MTN last year.
This led to a situation where all vehicles had to navigate through a single lane while work progressed on the other side.
The MTN Nigeria took over the N202.8 billion road project last year under the road infrastructure tax credit (RITC) scheme of the federal government.
Expressing their past experience on the road, enthusiastic commuters remarked that the years when the road was in disrepair were horrific, with frequent incidents of articulated vehicles falling on the road, resulting in numerous casualties.
One of the tanker drivers, identified as Donald Okafor, said plying on the Ugwuonyeama-9th Mile was the worst for him as a fuel tanker driver.
“Severally, my colleagues have been burnt to death on this road because of its bad mature. You don’t talk about the loss of the vehicle and products to fire on this particular road.
“I want to personally thank the federal government for allowing MTN to fund this project. Just within one year, we are already getting positive results.
“I believe this will stop the avoidable accidents and loss of lives manhour”, he said.
However, speaking at a joint press conference in Enugu on the temporary opening of the road to ease traffic for travellers during this yuletide, the MTN Coordinator Community Liaison Initiative, Dr Reginald Facah, expressed the company’s determination to ensure the completion of the dual carriageway in record time.
He expressed happiness that vehicular traffic would return to the road after years of dilapidation.
He said the people of Enugu and Anambra States would “be able to travel in a long while on top of the Amawbia flyover to territories beyond without going under the bridge and doing an illegal one-way that the authorities were forced to legalize a long time ago.
“By this singular act of taking up one of the most dilapidated roads in Nigeria, the Enugu – Onitsha dual carriageway in the novel RITC scheme pioneered by former President Muhammadu Buhari, MTN Communications Nigeria PLC has shown that it is an organization that has the common good of the Nigerian masses at heart.
“Indeed, taking up this project from the state we met it and running with it till the present state and beyond has not been an all rosy experience; but we are determined to see it till the end”.
While noting that December and the Christmas season have seen unimaginable suffering on the parts of commuters and drivers on the same road, Facah lamented that many Southeasterners did not bother to do the end of year homecoming ritual because the deplorable state of the roads in the southeast has further exacerbated the security situation.
“However, with the present state of the Enugu – Onitsha Road after the MTN intervention, many people will gladly make the trip home this year; with vehicular and human traffic from the Onitsha Bridge down to the Abakpa 82 division end of the road expected to be heavy and traffic control very hectic.
“However, the opening of some partially completed sections of the dual carriageway to ameliorate the anticipated traffic logjam on the road is expected to make the drive through a whole lot easier and better”.
The Southeast zonal commander FRSC, Ochinga I. Ameh, an Assistant Corps Marshall, commended MTN for taking up the project, saying its imminent completion would not only ease the traffic jam usually experienced, but would prevent accidents and save lives.
Ameh however appealed to the people of Enugu and Anambra States and indeed all road users that may be traversing the route during and after the Yuletide period to always exercise patience and caution to avoid avoidable accidents.
