LarryBravo Nwaiwu, Enugu

In furtherance of his campaign promise to construct 10,000 roads in eight years, governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, has commissioned a mega asphalt production plant built by his administration.

Inaugurating the plant in Emene on Thursday, Governor Mbah explained that the state would in addition produce the inputs for asphalt production, noting that the moves would drastically reduce the cost of road construction for the state.

“This is an event that brings us closer to our dream of bidding our collapsed, unpaved roads goodbye. This special and state-of-the-art asphalt production plant is designed to produce 160 tons of asphalt per hour. For context, it will produce 2.5 tons every minute and 160 tons per hour. What it effectively means is that if we decide to work 20 hours in a day, we can produce 3,200 tons every day. This is not seen anywhere in the South East.

“The interesting thing is that we are also committed to making sure that we produce the inputs. In a few days from now, we are going to inaugurate a plant where we will be mining and crushing the stones that we need to feed this plant.

“It is our hope that we are going to start the exploration of bitumen in the state because we are also blessed with bitumen. So, in a few years time, we are going to be able to produce the bitumen that will feed this plant. It means that we will get the bitumen here, get the stones, and sand so that everything is made in Enugu,” the governor said.

Mbah added that the inauguration of the asphalt plant had brought his administration closer to achieving its target of over 1,000km of roads per annum.

“This brings us closer to the dream of paving a minimum of a thousand kilometers every year in Enugu State. This is not heard of anywhere. We are talking about a length of road that you know is even a challenge to have in eight years.  But we commit to doing that every year.

“So, for context, what it means is that all our urban roads will be paved, we are not going to discriminate. Just a few weeks ago, we announced the approval of N183 billion for the construction of 141 urban roads and 20 rural roads.

“Remember that we have also just completed the pavement or construction of 71 urban roads and work is ongoing on the 10 rural roads we awarded earlier.

“For our rural roads, we understand the importance because one of the challenges we have in scaling up our agriculture production is access to farmlands. So, with the commissioning of a plant like this, we are now able to access our farmlands because we are now going to have the roads to our farmlands paved, and also going to pave the roads in our rural communities.

“Therefore, our projection on roads is not a dream, but something we are already beginning to implement,” he said.

Earlier in their addresses, the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engr. Gerald Otiji; Special Adviser to the Governor on Project Development and Implementation, Arc. Uchenna Nwatu; and the Technical Manager of the plant, Mitesh Prajapati, explained that the plant was of high standard and fit for bringing the governor’s dream of infrastructural transformation in Enugu to fruition.

“This Fabhind product is eco-friendly, and undoubtedly, will help the citizenry to benefit from smoother, safer, and more durable road networks.

“Second to none in the South East, this asphalt batch mix plant boasts of several special features that set it apart from others. With a capacity of 160 tons per hour, the plant can produce 1,500 tons of best quality asphalt a day,” Arc. Nwatu stated.