Umahi Opens Completed Sections of N350 Billion Enugu–Onitsha Road for Easter celebration

 

Umahi Opens Completed Sections of N350 Billion Enugu–Onitsha Road for Easter celebration.

NKIRU NWAGBO 

The completed sections of the N350 billion Enugu - Onitsha express way was this Thursday opened for road users by the Minister for Works Engr Dave Umahi ahead of the Easter season.

Speaking at the event, Umahi recalled the deplorable condition of the road prior to the current administration, noting that commuters previously spent over seven hours traveling between Enugu and Onitsha due to years of neglect and stalled construction.

“This is the most important route in the Southeast,” the minister said, stressing that the project had been awarded long before 2023 but remained largely abandoned for about eight years with little or no meaningful progress.

According to him, the road was initially being handled under a tax credit arrangement involving MTN and construction giant RCC. However, he said the project suffered delays until the intervention of President Bola Tinubu, who ordered its acceleration and a redesign of critical sections.

Umahi explained that the federal government reviewed the original ₦202 billion contract, retaining part of it while carving out a 72-kilometres stretch for reconstruction using reinforced concrete pavement. 

The new section, valued at about ₦150 billion, is being executed to higher durability standards similar to those used on the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway.

In total, he said, the full reconstruction of the Enugu–Onitsha road is now valued at over ₦350 billion.

Highlighting progress made so far, the minister disclosed that the first 15 kilometres of the reinforced concrete section is about 97 percent completed and has been opened to traffic to ease movement during the Easter period. He added that another 18-kilometre stretch is under construction towards Anambra State, while a separate 39-kilometre segment extending from the Niger Bridge axis is also ongoing.