President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to flag off construction of a N2.2 billion road and erosion control projects in Ukpo community, Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State before Christmas.
Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2017 election in the state, Tony Nwoye, disclosed this to newsmen at the weekend when he went for inspections in the area.
Nwoye, who once represented Anambra East and West in the National Assembly, said the projects, upon completion, would check erosion menace in the area; and also benefit the neighbouring communities.
“This is a very big project that the President Buhari-led Federal Government wants to execute for Anambra people, especially the Ukpo community and other communities in the area.
“As you can see, some of the people living here have left their homes because of erosion. This was a road that was designed through the instrumentality of the Federal Ministry of Works, Abuja, especially the Anambra State office of the ministry.
“Ukpo community will hold accountable, whichever contractor the Federal Ministry of Works chooses to award the road to. There will be value for money.
“My humble self, who facilitated the design of this road and its capturing in the Federal Government budget and also Arthur Eze, who used his political weight, also the Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, who vowed that this road must be done, will make sure there’ll be value for money.
“The BPP has issued a certificate of no objection on October 23 to the Federal Ministry of Works. As at yesterday, the ministry was set to go to the federal executive council (FEC) because the road is more than the approval limit of the ministry. It is more than N2 billion. That means the road will go to FEC.
“Hopefully, in the 2021 budget that will be passed in December, Money would be made available so that funding will not be a hiccup for the contractor,” he said.
The former lawmaker, who also inspected a completed road project in the community, said he completed three road projects in the area, one in Onitsha and in some other areas of the state.
Chief Engineer of the Federal Ministry of Works, Anambra State office, Chidi Ezeala, said the project would gulp N2.2 billion because of the erosion menace that would also be attended to.