December 1, 2017
By Ijendu Iheaka
Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu, of Abia says the Federal Government is partnering the state to construct Enyimba Industrial City spanning three Local Government Areas near Aba.
Ikpeazu said this on Thursday in Aba, while speaking to representatives of communities in Ukwa East, Ukwa West and Ugwulagbor Local Government Areas whose lands were included in the industrial city’s plan.
He added that the Federal Government had budgeted about N5 billion in 2018 budget to support the construction of the Industrial City.
According to him, the project involved partnership between the Federal Government, Abia State Government, the private sector and some multilateral institutions such as the World Bank.
He urged the communities to understand that his government was working for their interest and the future of their children and asked them to key into it for the benefit of their future generations.
He said that the city planned to create a business hub like Dubai would create over 1 million jobs and change the lives of the people of the area forever if they accept the proposal and support it.
Ikpeazu said he was working so hard to lift the status of Abia citizens, adding that he would regret all his life if he failed to change the lives of his people before exiting office.
Chief Uche Ihediwa, Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Physical Planning, said his staff had visited the land donors hence the meeting was to start the second phase of the project which was the land verification.
He said the project would change the revenue diversification drives in Abia, create jobs and all-round development while urging the landowners to cooperate with the surveyors about to start work.
Ihediwa said that the project was being handled by Singapore’s Surbana Jurong, one of Asia’s urban, industrial and infrastructure consulting firms specialising in architecture, master planning, engineering and other services.
He said the firm would be in Abia first week of December and would move with surveyors to communities to select and tell the 32 communities involved the locations for the project.
The Project Coordinator, Chief Darl Uzu said that Enyimba Industrial City aims at creating markets for local products and increasing the concentration of industries in that part of South East.
According to him, the city will create a new ecosystem that will change the economic system of the whole South East and South South zones.
The Chairmen namely Ugwulagbor, Ukwa East and Ukwa West local government traditional ruler’s councils namely Eze Moses Ugochukwu, Eze Godwin Ukanna and Eze Ikeabuchi Ekeke thanked the governor for the idea.
They promised to support the vision and expressed the hope that the project would not be abandoned by this administration or any other one in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment