Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia said on Monday that he would recover all the natural water basins in Aba, including the Ife-Obara basin on Omuma Road to check flooding.
Speaking during an unscheduled visit to the water basins and channels in Aba, Ikpeazu solicited the help of the residents to make the effort worthwhile.
He also warned the people who built houses “on the path of run-off water to go take whatever they have put on the way of the water or lose them”.
The governor, who spoke to the residents of Ariaria in Osisioma local government, said that he would do everything possible to ensure that Aba residents were no longer troubled by needless floods.
“Whatever construction we are doing is consuming a lot of money on Old Express and Faulks Road.
He said that the contract for Faulks Road cost a lot of money, saying it cost almost half of the entire money earmarked for road construction in the year.
“We do not want to use a contractor who is not very good. But whatever the contractor does, if the residents refuse to allow the water to follow its natural channel to Ife-Obara here, all our efforts will be in vain.
“I am saying that we plan to recover all the land around here which is part of this Ife-Obara water basin and dredge it to take away storm water from around this area.
“Then we can think of channeling what is left in this area to Waterside,” he said.
Ikpeazu warned the people against building on the flood path of Ife-Obara during dry seasons, saying that such tendency “had punished residents with unmanageable flooding over the years”.
He said that it would take from three kilometres to 6.5 kilometres to channel the water from Ariaria to Waterside at Ogbor Hill, stressing that such options were very costly and not to be considered.
“So we want to now respect this Ife-Obara basin. Anybody who has a house around Ife-Obara should go and take his things from there because we are going to pull those houses down and then dig this basin deep to contain as much water to save other houses elsewhere.
“This is the option we have and I am seeking the cooperation of all our people and saying anybody on the land belonging to Ife-Obara should leave because Ife-Obara has come to reclaim its land,” he said.
The governor also visited Uratta Road, Omuma Road, Orji Kalu Bridge and People’s Road.
He also visited Obuda Primary Health Centre on Uratta Road where he inspected the facilities and gave them N160,000 to purchase beds and some other necessities. (NAN)